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OUTLINES 



OF 



UNIVERSAL HISTORY, 

JLY-S 



FliOM THK 



CREATION OF THE WORLD 



TO 



THE PRESENT TIME. 




TRANSLATED FROM THK GEKMAX OF 

Dr. GEORGE WP:BER, 

PKOrKSSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL OF HEIDELBEBO, 

BT 

Dr. M. BEHR, 

PROFE3HOR OF GERMAN LITERATDRE IN AVINCHESTER COLLEGE. 



REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH THE ADDITION 



OP 



A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



BT 



FRANCIS BOWEN, A.M., 

ALFORD PROFES.SOIl OF NATCUAL RELIGION, MORAL PHILOSOPHY 
.\NI> CIVIL POLITV, IN HARVARD COLLEGE. 



BOSTON: 

JENKS, HICKLING, AND SWAN. 

1 853. 



. W3<S. 



Y.u:i:rcd according to act of Congress, in tlic year 1853, 

3'i .JkvKS. HitKI.ING. .VXD Sw.VN, 

111 tlic Clerk's Ort-'ce of ti'.c District Court of tlie Di.strict of Massi\chubCtts. 



r) 



<:^^ 



PEEFACE 



The Translator of this work makes the following extract 
from the Author's preface to the German edition. 

" Believing that a Guide to History can answer its object 
only when it awakens the interest of the pupil, stimulates 
his desire for information, and excites his zeal for inquiry, 
I have everywhere arrayed the historical material in a narra- 
tive form, and have endeavored to give clearness, consistency, 
and animation to that form. My effort has been so to bring 
together the events of the world's history in their more 
prominent aspects and decisive moments, that the reader may 
obtain a clear idea of them ; that the important facts may be 
exhibited together with their causes and consequences, and 
thus be more strongly impressed upon the imagination, and 
consequently upon the memory ; and that the course of the 
narrative may not be disturbed or broken by interpolations 
or remarks which might require a further explanation. Instead 
of following the usual course of compendiums, textbooks, and 
outlines, by heaping up a mass of materials in the smallest 
possible space, and thus forming a kind of skeleton register 
of the events of history, I have rather endeavored to limit 
my materials, giving place only to the most important and 
influential, and arranging these in historical succession. . . 
. . Mere historical events, with names and dates, are not 
easily retained by the memory, and do not possess any in- 
structive or educative power. It is only when the historical 
fact is presented in combination with other objects, so that 



IV PREFACE. 



the imagination and thinking faculty are both employed upon 
it, that it permanently impresses itself upon the mind of 
youth." » 

The Translator justly adds, that " the book is 'v\Titten 
throughout in the spirit of orthodox Protestantism, and is 
entirely untinctured with the neology and infidelity at this 
time so prevalent in Germany." 

Believing that the method here explained is the right one, 
and that the scheme is, in the main, carried out with fidelity 
and spirit, I have subjected the work to a thorough revision, 
in the hope of making it still more suitable for use as a 
textbook of instruction in American colleges and schools. 
Errors of the press and the pen had been multiplied by the 
translation and republication of the book in England ; and 
the translation itself, though generally correct and elegant, 
was sometimes obscure and inadequate. Accuracy being an 
essential qualification of a school-book, every paragraph in 
these Outlines has been laboriously examined, and almost 
every name and date tested by reference to trustworthy 
sources of information. It would be rash to assert that it is 
now free from blemish ; but it is certain that hundreds of 
small errors have been weeded out by this scrutinizing pro- 
cess. If any remain, it is hoped that they may be discovered 
and removed in a subsequent edition. A few notes have 
been added, sometimes to explain, and sometimes to qualify, 
statements in the text. 

One very important defect was to be supplied before Dr. 
Weber's work could be considered worthy of republication 
in America. Except an imperfect sketch of the Revolutionary 
war, contained in four or five pages, the history of this 
country was entirely omitted. The gap thus left might have 
been cheaply filled by transcription and a judicious use of 
the scissors; but as the book would then have lacked unity 
of execution, I preferred to write out anew a sketch of the 
history of the United States, from the period of the first set- 
tlements at Jamestown and Plymouth, down to the peace of 



PREFACE. V 

1815. The addition thus made is considerable, as it occupies 
nearly one hundred pages, thus enlarging the bulk of the 
original about one fifth. It consists of three parts ; — 1. a 
brief history of the Colonization of North America (pp. 291 
— 314) ; 2. a sketch of the French and Indian wars during 
the first sixty years of the eighteenth century, followed by a 
history of the War of Independence and the formation of 
the Federal Constitution (pp. 342 - 388) ; and, 3. a summary 
of political events from 1789 to 1815 (pp. 468 — 491). In 
preparing these historical sketches, I have sedulously endea- 
vored to follow Dr. "Weber's original conception of his work, 
by passing lightly over all the details, and grouping together 
the leading events with a view to their causes and conse- 
quences. Only in this manner is it possible to preserve the 
interest of a • continuous narrative, a proper distribution of 
light and shade, and a correct appreciation of personages and 
events, in a mere compend of history. The pages that are 
burdened with details are wearisome to read and difficult to 
remember. A compend of history must be a true compend, 
and not merely a complete history viewed through the wrong 
end of a telescope. The general plan, therefore, upon which 
these Outlines of History have been prepared, I am convinced, 
is a good one ; time and use will bring to light the defects 
in its execution. 

THE AlVIERICAN EDITOR. 
Cambridge, February, 1853. 



a* 



CONTENTS. 



FIRST BOOK. 
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



INTRODUCTION, pp. 1 — 4. 

I. § 1. The first race of men, p. 1. II. ^ 2. The manner of living among the earliest 
races, p. 2. III. § 3. Forms of government ; distinction of castes, p. 2. IV. § 4. The 
religion of the heathen world, p. 3. 

A. THE EASTERN RACES, pp. 5 — 23. 

I. ^ 5. The Asiatics, p. 5. II. § 6. The Chinese, p. 6. III. § 7. The Indians, p. 7. § 8. 
Their religion, literature, art, p. 8. IV. Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 10. § 9. Nimrod, 
Semiramis, Salmanasser. § 10. The Chaldeans in Babylon ; Nebuchadnezzar. V. 
Egyptians, p. 11. § 11. Division of Egypt. § 12. Religion and arts. § 13. History. 
VI. Phojnicians, p. 13. § 14. Navigation, commerce, discoveries. § 15. History of Tyre 
and Sidon. VII. The people of Israel, pp. 15 — 20. § 16. The Patriarchs. § 17. Exodus. 
§ 18. Moses as lawgiver. § 19. Division of the promised land. § 20. The Judges. § 21. 
Samuel and Saul. §-22. David; Solomon; division of the kingdom. § 23. Worship of 
idols ; the prophets. § 24. The Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. VIII. Medes and 
Persians, pp. 20 — 23. § 25. Zoroaster's religious system. §26. Astyages and Cyrus. 
§ 27. Croesus of Lydia. § 28. Death of Cyrus. § 29. Cambyses ; Ammonium. \ 30. 
Darius. § 31. Manners and customs of the Persians. 

B. HISTORY OF GREECE, pp. 23—67. 

I. Geographical Survey, pp. 23 — 26. § 32. a. The Greek Continent, p. 23. § 33. b. The 
Greek Islands, p. 24. II. § 34. The rehgion of the Greeks, p. 25. 

I. GREECE BEFORE THE PERSIAN WAR, pp. 26 — 38. 

I. The time of the Trojan war, p. 26. § 35. Pelasgi ; eastern immigration. § 36. Helle- 
nic races; expedition of the Argonauts. §37. Trojan war. § 38. Homer; epic poetry. 
§39. Immigration of the Dorians; Codrus. § 40. Colonies. 2. The period of the wise 
men and lawgivers, p. 31. a. General view. § 41. Greeks and barbarians. § 42. Am- 



CONTENTS. Vll 

phictyonic council; Delphic oracle; Ohnnpic games, b. Lycurgus the Spartan lawgiver, 
p. 32. § 43. Laws of Lycurgus. a. Institutions of state, b. Mode of life. § 44. War 
with the ilessenians. c. Solon, the lawgiver of the Athenians, p. 34. § 45. Draco; laws 
of Solon, d. The tyrants, p. 35. § 4G. Their origin. §47. Periander of Corinth ; Poly- 
crates of Samos ; Pisistratus of Athens. § 48. The seven wise men ; Pythagoras. § 49. 
e. Lyric poetry. 

II. THE FLOURISHING PERIOD OF GREECE, p. 39. 

1. The Persian war. § 50. Insurrection of the Greeks of Asia Minor. § 51. Battle of 
Marathon. § 52. Aristides and Themistocles. § 53. Thermopylaj. § 54. Salamis. § 55. 
Platffia ; Mycale ; Eurymedon. 2. The supremacy of Athens, and the age of Pericles, 
p. 43. § 56. Pausanias, the traitor. § 57. Deaths of Themistocles and Ai-istides. § 58. 
Cimon; Pericles. 3. The Peloponnesian war (b. c. 431 — 404), p. 45. § 59. Origin of the 
war. § 60. The war to the peace of Nicias. § 61. Alcibiades ; battle of Mantinjea. 
§ 62. Disasters of the Athenians in Sicily. § 63. Death of Alcibiades. § 64. The fall of 
Athens; the thirty tyrants. 4. Socrates, p. 48. § 65. Sophists; Socrates; Plato; Xeno- 
phon. 5. § 66. The retreat of the ten thousand (b. c. 400), p. 49. 0. The time of Agesi- 
laus and Epaminondas. § 67. The Corinthian war and the peace of Antalcidas. § 68. 
Expedition against Olynthus and siege of Thebes. § 69. The Theban war and the battle 
of Leuctra. § 70. Epaminondas in Peloponnesus; battle of JIantiiiaja. 7. The most 
flourishing period of Greece in literature and the arts. § 71. Dramatic poetry; jEschylus; 
Sophocles; Euripides; Ai-istophanes. § 72. Prose literature; Plato; Herodotus; Thucy- 
dides; Xenophon. § 73. Rhetoric; Isocrates; Demosthenes; Jischines. § 74. The fine 
arts of the Greeks. 

ni. THE MACEDONIAN PERIOD, p. 56. 

1. Philip of Macedon (b. c. 361 — 336). ' § 75. Character of Philip. § 76. The Sacred 
war. § 77. Battle of Cha;ronea; Philip's death. 2. Alexander the Great, p. 58. § 78. 
Fall of Thebes. § 79. Battle of Granicus. § 80. Battle of Issus. § 81. Tyre and Alex- 
andria. 82. Arbela and Gaugemala. § 83. Expedition into Bactria. § 84. March to 
India. § 85. Last years of Alexander. 

THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD, p. 62. 

^ 86. a. Alexander's successors, b. Greece's last struggle; the Achaian league, p. 63. 
§ 87. Athens; Phocion; Demosthenes; Demetrius. § 88. Sparta and the Achaian league. 
§ 89. c. The Ptolemies and the Seleucidos, p. 64. § 90. d. The Jews under the Maccabees, 
p. 65. e. State of civiHzation dm-ing the Alexandrian period, p. 66. § 91. Theocritus; 
Stoics and Epicureans. 

C. THE HISTORY OF EOME, p. 68. 

§ 92. The races and institutions of ancient Italy. 

I. ROME UNDER THE (iOVERNlVIENT OF KINGS AND 
PATRICIANS, p. 69. 

1. Rome under the kings (b. c. 753 — 509). § 93. Rome built. § 94. Rome under Ro- 
mulus. § 95. Numa Pompilius. § 96. Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius; origin of the 
plebeians. § 97. Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius. § 98. Tarquinius Superbus. 2. 
Rome as a republic under the patricians, p. 72. a. Horatius Codes ; the tribunes ; Corio- 
lanus. § 99. Contest between the republicans and Porsenna and Tarquin. § 100. Emi- 
gi-ation to the sacred hill; Coriolanus. b. The Fabii; Cincinnatus; the decem\nrs. p. 74. 
§101. War with the Veians and jEqui. §102. Agrarian law; Sp. Cassius. § 103. The 
decemvirs. § 104. Military tribunes and censors, c. Sack of Rome by the Gauls (b. c. 
389), and the laws of Lincinius Stolo (b. c. 366), p. 76. § 105. Taking of Yeii by Camil- 
lus. § 106. Brennus in Rome. § 107. M. JIanlius and the laws of L. Stolo. 

n. ROME'S HEROIC PERIOD, p. 78. 

1. The time of the war with the Samnites, and the battles with Pyn-hus. § 108. First 



VIU CONTENTS. 

Samnite war. § 109. War with the Latms. § 110. Second Samnite war; Caudinian 
passes ; Sentinum. ^ 111. AVar with Tarentum and Pyrrhus. 2. The time of the Punic 
wars, p. 80. a. The first Punic war (b. c. 263 — 241). § 112. Carthage; Agathocles; the 
Mamertines. § 113. Eegiilus. § 114. Hamiloar Barcas; tennination of the first Punic 
war. &. The second Punic war (b. c. 218 — 202), p. 82. §115. Sicily and Gallia Cisal- 
pina Roman Provinces. § 116. Sagimtum. § 117. Hannibal's passage over the Alps and 
tlirough Italy. §118. Fabius Maximus and the battle of Cannce. § 119. Capua; Syra- 
cuse; Tarentum. § 120. Hasdrabal's defeat on the Metaurus. §121. Zama. c. Mace- 
donia conquered ; Corinth and Carthage destroyed, p. 86. § 122. Philip II. and Antiochus 
III. subdued by the Komans. § 123. Battle of Pydna and destruction of Corinth. § 124. 
Destruction of Carthage in the third Punic war. d. The manners and culture of the 
Romans, p. 89. § 125. Contest between Conservatism and progress ; Plautus ; Terence ; 
Cato. 

m. ROME'S DEGENERACY, p. 90. 

1. Numantia; Tiberius; Caius Gracchus. § 126. Rome's government of her provinces ; 
Numantia's insun-ection and fall. § 127. Tiberius Gracchus. § 128. Caius Gracchus. 
2. The times of Marius and Sylla, p. 92. § 129. The Jugurthine war. § 130. Cimbri and 
Teutones. § 131. The Social war. § 132. The first Mithridatic war. § 133. The first 
civil war; death of Marius. § 134. The Cornelian law and Sylla's death. 3. The times 
of Cneius Pompey and M. Tulhus Cicero, p. 96. § 135. Scrtorius. § 130. The Servile 
war. § 137. War against the pirates. § 138. The second Mithi-idatic war. § 139. Cata- 
line's conspiracy. 4. The times of Caius Julius Ca3sar, p. 98. § 140. The trium\nrate. 
§ 141. Csesar's wars in Gaul. § 142. The second civil war. § 143. Ca3sar's victories. 
§ 144. Caesar's death. 5. The last years of the repubhc, p. 101. § 145. The second tri- 
umvirate; Cicero's death. § 146. Philippi. § 147. Actium. 

IV. THE ROMAN EMPIRE, p. 102. 

1. The times of Ccesar Octavianus Augustus, p. 102. § 148. Rome's golden age. § 149. 
Roman literature. 2. The struggles of the Geraians for liberty, p. 103. § 150. Hermann's 
victoiy in the Teutoburger forest. § 151. Germanicus. § 152. Tacitus on the manners 
and institutions of the Germans. 3. The Ca?sars of the Augustine race, p. 105. § 153. 
Tiberius. § 154. Caligula; Claudius. § 155. Nero. § 156. Galba; Otho; Vitellius. 4. 
The Flavii and Antonines, p. 107. § 157. Vespasian. § 158. The destruction of Jerusa- 
lem ; destruction of the Jewish state. § 159. Britain conquered by Agricola. § 160. 
Titus. § 161. Domitian; Nerva; Trajan. § 162. Adrian; Plutarch. § 163. Antoninus 
Pfus ; Marcus AiircUus. § 1C4. Cultivation and morals. 5. Rome under military govern- 
ment, p. 111. § 165. Conamodus; Pertinax; Septimius Severus. § 166. Caracalla; Helio- 
gabalus; Alexander Severus. § 167. Philip the Arab ; Decius; Gallienus. §168. Aure- 
lian. § 169. Tacitus; Probus; Cams. § 170. Time of Diocletian. § 171. Constantine's 
victory at the Milvian bridge and sole empire. 



SECOND BOOK. 

iMIGRATION OF NATIONS AND THE MIDDLE AGE. 

A. MIGRATION OF NATIONS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF 

MONOTHEISM. 

1. THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OYER PAGANISM, p. 114. 

1. The Christian Church of the first centuiy. § 172. Persecutions of the Christians. 

2. Constantiae the Great and Julian the Apostate. § 173. Constantine's proceedings in 
Church and state. § 174. Arianism; Augustine; the fathers of the Church. § 175 
Julian the Apostate. 



CONTENTS. IX 

n. THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS, pp. 117—125. 

1. Theodosius the Great. § 176. Huns and West Goths. 2. West Goths ; Burgundians 
and Vandals, p. 118. ^ 177. Alaric; Stilicho; Radagais. § 178. Alaric in Italy. §179. 
The Vandals in Africa. 3. Attila king of the Huns (A. d. 450), p. 120. § 180. Battle 
with the Huns ; Aquileja. 4. § 181. Destraction of the Western Roman Emph-e (a. d. 
476), p. 120. 5. § 182. Theodoric the Ostrogoth (a. d. 500), p. 121. *6. Clovis, king of the 
Franks and the Merovingians, p. 121. § 183. Battle of Ziilpich. § 184. The Merovingians 
and their Mayor of the palace. 7. § 185. The Anglo-Saxons, p. 122. 8. The Byzantine 
empire and the Longobards, p. 123. § 186. The court; Justinian. § 187. Subjection of 
the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. § 188. Alboin. § 189. The Iconoclasts and the Iconoduli. 

ni. MOHAIMMED AND THE ARABIANS, pp. 125 — 128. 

§ 190. Ai-abia. § 191. Mohammed the prophet. § 192. The Mohammedans m Persia 
and Egypt. § 193. All and the Ommiades. § 194. The Arabs in Spain and France. 
§ 195. The Abbassides in Bagdad ; the battles between Christians and Mohammedans in 
Spam. § 196. Ai'ab cultivation and literature. 

B. THE MIDDLE AGE. 

I. THE PERIOD OF THE CARLOVINGI, pp. 129—133. 

I. Popin the Little (a. d. 752 — 768); Charlemagne (768 — 814). § 197. Pepin the 
Little and Bonifacius. § 198. Saxons and Longobards. § 199. War with the Saxons, and 
defeat at Roncesvalles. § 200. Charlemagne, Roman emperor. § 201. His internal 
government. • 2. Dissolution of the Frank empire, pp. 132, 133. § 202. Louis the Debon- 
naire ; Treaty of Verdun. § 203. Charles the Fat and Ai-nuU". § 204. Charles the Sknple 
and Hugh Capet. 

II. NORMANS AND DANES, p. 133. 

§205. Scandinavia; Iceland; Russia. § 206. England; Alfred; Canute; William the 
Conqueror. § 207. Lower Italy ; Robert Guiscard. 

in. THE SUPREMACY OF THE GERMANO-ROMAN 

EMPIRE, p. 135. 

1. The House of Saxony (919 —1024.) §208. Heniy the Fowler. § 209. Otho the 
Great. § 210. Otho II. and III. § 211. Hemy II.; German cultivation under the Othos. 
2. The Hoirse of Frauconia, pp. 137 — 140. § 212. Conrad IL and Henry IIL §213. 
Henry IV. and the Saxons. § 214. Henry IV. and pope Gregoiy VU. § 215. Henry 
IV.'s death. § 216. Henry V. and Lothaire of Saxony. 

IV. THE ASCENDANCY OF THE CHURCH IN THE TBIE OF 

THE CRUSADES, p. 140. 

1. The Crusades. § 217. The assembly of the Church at Clermont. § 218. Peter of 
Amiens and Walter the Permiless. § 219. The first crasade under Godfrey of Bouillon. 
§ 220. Conquest of Jerusalem. § 221. The first king of Jerasalem. § 222. The second 
crusade. § 223. The third crusade. § 224. The fourth crusade ; the Latin empire in Con- 
stantinople. § 225. The fifth crusade ; the emperor Frederick II. § 226. The sixth cru- 
sade, under Louis IX. § 227. The consequences of the crusades ; orders of knights. 
§ 228. War against the Albigenses. 2. The Hohenstaufens (a. d. 1138 — 1154), pp. 149 — 
156. § 229. Welfs and Waiblings. § 230. Frederick Barbarossa m Italy; Arnold of 
Brescia. § 231. Milan destroyed ; Alexandria founded. § 232. Battle of Legnano ; Peace 
of Constance. § 233. Frederick Barbarossa and Henry the Lion. § 234. Henry VI. and 
Philip of Swabia. § 235. Pope Innocent III. and the Emperor Otho IV. § 236. Frede- 
rick II.'s contest with the papacy. § 237. Rival emperor in Germany. § 238. Frederick 



X CONTENTS. 

II.'s death. § 239. Death of Manfred at Bencventum. § 240. Conradine's death; the 
Sicilian vespers. 8. General view of the Middle Ages, p. 156. § 241. The feudal sj'stem. 
^242. Cliivalry. §243. Hierarchy. § 244. Monaohism. §245. Mendicant orders ; Fran- 
ciscans and Dominicans. § 246. State of the towns. § 247. Literature (1), Scholastics 
and Mystics. § 248. (2) Science and the writmg of history. § 249. (3) Poetry. 

V. DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE 

CHURCH, p. 163. 

1. The Interrejinum (a. d. 1250 — 1273). § 250. Club law; confedei'ations of towns. 

2. Origin of the House of Hapsburg and the Helvetic confederation, pp. 164 — 166. § 251. 
Eiidolf of Hapsburg. § 252. IJudolf "s proceedings in the empire. § 253. Adolf of Nassau 
and Albert of Austri.a. §254. The confederation of the Rutli; William Tell; Morgarten. 

3. Philip the Fair of Fr.ance and the emperor Louis the Bavarian, pp. 166 — 169. § 255. 
Philip IV. and pope Bonifacius VHL ; the popes at Avignon. § 256. Dissolution of the 
order of the Temple. § 257. Henry of Luxemburg. § 258. Louis the Bavarian and Frede- 
rick the Fair. § 259. Diet at Reuse; Louis's death. 4. The emperors of the House of Lux- 
emburg, pp. 169 — 171. §260. Charles IV. §261. Wenceslaus ; the German town war. 
§262. Rupert of the Palatinate and Sigismund. 5. The division in the Church and the 
great councils, p. 171. " § 263. The division in the Church; Wickliff and Huss. § 264. The 
council of Constance. § 265. The Hussite war. § 266. The council of Basle. 6. Ger- 
many under Frederick HI. and Maximilian I., p. 175. § 267. Albert II. and Frederic III. 
§ 268. Maximilian I.; change in the German constitution. § 269. End of the middle age. 

VI. HISTORY OF THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES 
DURING THE MIDDLE AGE, p. 176. 

1. France. § 270. a. France under the House of Capet (a. d. 987 — 1328). h. France 
lander the House of Valois (a. d. 1328 — 1529), p. 177. § 271. Philip VI. and John the 
Good; Crecy and Poictiers. §272. Charles V. andVL; civil war. §273. Battle of 
Agincourt. § 274. Maid of Orleans ; Louis XL 2. England, pp. 180 — 183. § 275. Henry 
Plantagenet and Thomas a Becket. § 276. Richard Lion-heart and John Lackland. § 277. 
Edward I. and the war of liberty in Scotland. § 278. Edward III. ; the House of Lan- 
caster. § 279. The wars of the red and white roses. 3. Spain, pp. 183 — 186. § 280. State 
of Spain in the middle age. § 281. Aragon and Castile'. § 282. Ferdinand and Is.abella ; 
the Inquisition. § 283. Expulsion of the Moors. 4. Italy, pp. 186 — 188. a. L'pper 
Italy. § 284. Venice. § 285. Genoa. § 286. Milan. § 287. Savoy and Piedmont. 
b. Middle and Lower Italy, p. 188. §288. Florence; Cosmo de Medici. § 289. Lorenzo 
the Magnificent; Savonarola; fine arts. § 290. State of the Church; Ferrara. §291. 
Naples and Sicily. 5. The new Burgundian territory, p. 190. § 292. Condition of the 
kingdom under the first dukes. § 293. Charles the Bold. § 294. The new Burgmulian 
tei-ritory after the death of Charles. 6. Scandinavia, p. 192. § 295. Establishment 
of Christianty in the 'three Scandinavian kingdoms. § 296. Denmark before the 
union of Calmar. § 297. Sweden before and after the union of Calmar. 7. Hungaiy, p. 
194. §298. Steplien the Pious; the Saxons in Transylvania; the " Golden Privilege." 
^ 299. Louis the Great and Matthias Corvinus. 8. Poland, p. 196. § 300. State of 
Poland; Casimir the Great. § 301. The Jagellons; formation of the power of the nobles. 

9. The Russian Empire, p. 197. § 302. The imperial House of Ruric; Ivan Vasilyevitsch. 

10. Moguls and Turks, pp. 198 — 201. §303. Zengis-IOian and his sons. §304. The 
Ottoman Turks in Asia Minor. § 305. Bajazet and Tinuu-. § 306. Murad II. ; the Chris- 
tian army defeated at Wama. § 307. Taking of Constantinople ; greatness and decay 
of the Ottoman empire. 



CONTENTS. XI 



TIIIIID BOOK. 

THE MODERN EPOCH. 

I. THE FORERUNNERS OF THE MODERN EPOCH, p. 202. 

1. The sea passage to the East Indies, and tlie discovei-y of America, p. 202. § 308. In- 
vention of the compass; gmipowder; printing. § 309. The Portuguese in the East Indies. 
§310. Christopher Columbus. § 311. -Balboa; Cortez; PizaiTO. § 312. Consequences of 
the discovery of America. 2. The revival of the arts and sciences, p. 206. § 313. 
Italy; Gemiany (Reuchlin, Erasmus, Hutten); Humanists and Obscurantists. 

n. THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION, p. 208. 

1. The German Reformation, pp. 208 — 212. a. Dr. :Martin Luflicr. § 314. The sale of 
indiilgences and the ninety-five theses. ^315. Luther. § 316. Cajetan; Frederick the 
Wise; Miltitz. § 317. His disputation at Leipsic; burning of the pope's bull. § 318. 
Diet of Worms. § 319. Dr. Caristadt and the Anabaptists; Philip Melancthon. § 320. 
Extension of the Reformation, h. The peasant war, p. 212. § 321. Thomas Munzer. 
§322. Subjection of the peasants, c. The Augsburg confession, p. 214. §.323. Activity 
of Luther and Melancthon; Diet of Spire. § 324. Diet of Augsburg. (/. Ulric Zwingle, 
p. 215. §325. Refonnation in Switzeriand. § 326. Religions war; battle of Kappel. 
2. Wars of the House of Hapsburg agamst France, p. 217. § 327. Charles V. and Francis 
I. ; wars respecting Milan. § 328. Battle of Pavia ; taking of Rome ; Ladies' Peace of 
Cambray. § 329. Campaign against Tunis ; second and third war between Charles and 
Francis. 3. The war of religion in Gennany, p. 220. § 330. The league of Smalcald; 
the gospel in Wirtemberg. § 331. The Anabaptists in Munster. § 332. Extension of the 
Reformation in Saxony, Brandenburg, the Palatinate, &c. § 333. The war of Smalcald; 
campaign on the Danube. § 334. Charles V.'s triumphant expedition into Southern Ger- 
many. ■ § 335. Battle near Miihlberg; the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse 
taken prisoners. § 336. The Augsburg interim. § 337. Maurice of Saxony; the treaty 
of Passau. § 338. The rehgious war of Augsburg. § 339. Charles V. dies. 4. Progress of 
the Reformation through Europe, p. 229. a. Lutheranism and Calvinism. § 340. Ger- 
many; the Lutheran and Refonned Churches. § 341. Switzerland; Calvinism. § 342. 
Calvinism in France, in the Netherlands, in Scotland, h. Establishment of the Anglican 
Church, p. 232. §343. England; Henry VHI.'s ecclesiastical innovations. §344. Henry 
VIII. and his wives. § 345. Establishment of the Episcopal Church under Edward VI. 
§ 346. The English Church under Maria and Elizabeth, c. The Reformation in the three 
Scandinavian kingdoms, p. 235. § 347. Scandinavia; Sweden under Gusta\'us Vasa. 
§ 348. The Reformation in Denmark. § 349. Sweden under the sons of Gustavus Vasa. 
§ 350. Poland, d. The Catholic Church, p. 238. § 351. Inquisition; papacy; Council of 
Trent: § 352. Order of the Jesuits. 5. The times of Philip IL (A. d. 1556 — 1598) and 
Ehzabeth (A. D. 1558 — 1G03), p. 240. § 353. Philip H.; character and mode of govern- 
ment, a. Portugal united with Spain, p. 241. § 354. King Sebastian, h. Struggle for 
liberty in the Netherlands, p. 242. § 355. Philip's attacks on the privileges of the Nether- 
landers. § 356. Compromise; the Gueses; sacrilege. § 357. Alba in the Netherlands. 
§358. Don Juan; Alexander Farnese; William of Orange. § 359. The Annada; tenni- 
nation of the war. § 360. Trade ; government synod of Dort. c. France during the war 
of religion, p. 246. § 361. Position of parties. § 362. The first three wars of rehgion. 
§ 363. The Bartholomew night. § 364. Henry HI. and the holy league. § 365. Henry 
IV. d. Elizabeth and Mary Stuart, p. 251. § 366. Difference in the characters of the 
the two queens ; Knox. § 367. Mary Stuart in Scotland. § 368. Jlary Stuart in England. 
§ 369. Rise of England, and death of Elizabeth ; Essex, e. Culture and literature in the 
century of the Refonnation. § 370. 1. Germany; 2. Italy; 3. Spain and Portugal; 
4. England, p. 254. 



• • 



XU CONTENTS. 



in. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, p. 256. 

1. The thirty years' war (a. d. 1618 — 1648). a. Bohemia; Palatinate; Lower Germany; 
Tilly; appearance of Wallenstein. §371. Union and league. § 372. The letters patent, 
and the proceedings in Prague. § 373. Frederick V. and the battle of the White Hill. 
§ 374. Tilly in the Palatinate. § 375. Wallenstein in the Noi-th of Germany. § 376. Edict 
of restitution; Diet of Regensburg; Wallenstein's deposition, b. Interference of Sweden; 
Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein, p. 262. § 377. Gustavus Adolphus in Pomerania; 
destruction of Magdeburg. § 378. Battle of Breitenfield and Leipsic; triumphant course 
of Gustavus Adolphus. § 379. Nuremberg; Lutzen. § 380. Alliance of Heilbron; Wal- 
lenstein's death, c. TeiTnination of the war; peace of Westphaha, p. 264. § 381. Ber- 
nard of Weimar; Bancr. § 382. Torstenson; Wrangel; tennination of the war. § 383. 
Peace of Westphalia, d. Sweden under Christina and Charles X. ; change in the consti- 
tution of Denmark, p. 266. § 384. Sweden under Christina. § 385. Charles X., and the 
change in the constitution of Denmark. 2. The revolution in England, and the expulsion 
of the Stuarts, p. 268. a. The first two Stuarts (James I. 1603 — 1625, Charles I. 1625 — 
1649). § 386. James's character and principles. § 387. The gunpowder-plot; nuptial expe- 
dition of the prince of Wales ; position in relation to parliament. § 388. Petition of right ; 
Strafford; Laud. § 389. Hampden and the Scottish covenant. § 390. The long parlia- 
ment; Straftbrd's fall. §391. Civil war; Cromwell's appearance. §392. Victory of the 
Lidependents ; Charles Avith the Scots. §393. Death of Charles. 6. Oliver Cromwell p. 
275. . § 394. Cromwell's victories at Dunbar and Worcester. § 395. Cromwell as Lord 
Protector; the parliament. § 396. Restoration, c. The last two Stuarts (Charles II. 1660 
— 1685, and James H. 1685 — 1688), p. 275. § 397. Government of Charles H. ; Test Act; 
Habeas Corpus Act ; Whigs and Tories. § 398. Government and fall of James H." § 399. 
William and Mary; Bill of Eights; union with Scotland. 3. The age of Louis XIV., p. 
281. a. Richelieu and Mazarin. § 400. Louis XIII. ; government and activity of Riche- 
lieu. §401. Anne of Austria and Mazarin; war of the Fronde, b. Govenmient and con- 
quests of Louis XIV., p. 283. § 402. Louis XIV. and his ministers and generals. § 403. 
The Spanish and Dutch war; peace of Aix. § 404. Sasbach; Fehrbellin; peace of Nime- 
guen. § 405. Reunions; Strasburg wrested from the emphe. c. Austria's distress and 
triumph, p. 286. § 406. The Tiarks before Vienna; peace of Carlowitz. d. The war of 
Orleans, p. 287. § 407. Desolation of the Palatinate; peace of Eyswick. e. Life at the 
court; literature; Chm-ch, p. 288. § 408. Industry; court of Versailles ; art and literature. 
§ 409. Jansenists ; persecution of the Huguenots. 

IV. THE COLONIZATION OF NORTH AJMERICA, p. 291. 

[a. d. 1G06 — 1732.] 

§ 410. Early explorations of North America, and attempts to colonize it. § 411. Settle- 
ment of Virginia, p. 292. § 412. Wars with the Lidians ; loyalty of the settlers. § 413. 
Bacon's rebellion. § 414. Colony of Plymouth,'^. 296. § 415. Settlement of Massachusetts, 
p. 298. §416. Form of government; religious faith and practice. §417. Manners and 
laws; repi;blicanism of the people. § 418. Care for education. § 419. Wars with the 
Indians. § 420. Dissension with the mother country; Audros governor; new charter. 
§ 421. Salem Witchcraft. § 422. Other New England Colonies, p. 805. § 423. New York, 
p. 306. § 424. Maryland. § 425. The Carolinas. § 426. New Jersey. § 427. Pennsyl- 
vania. § 428. Georgia. § 429. Character of the American Colonists. 

V. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, p. 314. 

1. The Spanish war of succession (1702 — 1714). § 430. Origin of the war; position of 
parties. § 431. Hochstiidt; Prince Eugene and Marlborough. § 432. Ramilies; Turin; 
Spain. §433. Humiliation of France ; Malplaquet. § 434. Change in affairs ; peace of 
Utrecht. § 435. France ; Orleans ; duke-regent. § 436. Spain ; Philip V. ; Ferdinand 
VI. § 437. England under the House of Hanover ; attempts of the Stuarts fnistrated. 



CONTENTS. XUl 

2. Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia in the Northern war (1700 — 1718). 
§ 438. Sweden and Russia under the House of Romanoff. § 439. Peter's refonns. § 440. 
Poland under Frederick Augustus the Strong. § 441. Charles XII. in Denmark and 
Poland; Stanislaus Leczinski. § 442. Charles XII. in Saxony; his character. § 443. 
Peter on the Baltic; battle of Pultowa. § 444. Charles XII. in Turkey. § 445. Death of 
Charles XII. § 446. Refonnation in Russia. § 447. Alexis; Menzikoff ; Elizabeth. 
§ 448, The Polish war of succession. 3. The rise of Prussia, p. 327. § 449. Frederick I. 
§ 450. Frederick William I. § 451. Youth of Frederick 11. 4 . The times of Frederick 
II. and Maria Theresa, p. 329. a. The Austrian war of succession (a. d. 1740 — 1748). 
§452. Cause of the war ; Pragmatic sanction; Charles Albert. §453. The first Silesian 
"war; Charles's coronation. § 454. The Hungarians; difficulties of Bavaria. § 455. 
Prague; Dettingen. § 456. The second Silesian war. § 457. Close of the war; peace of 
Aix. b. The seven years' war (a. d. 1756 — 1763), p. 332. § 458. Austria's alliance 
•with Russia, France, and Saxony. §459. Dresden and Pirna. § 460. Prague; Collin; 
Rosbach; Leuthen. § 461. Zorndorf; Hochkirch. § 462. Kunersdorf; Bergen; Minden. 
§ 463. Leignitz; Torgau. § 464. Peter III. and Catharine E. of Russia. § 465. Close of 
■war; Peace of Hubertsburg. c. The GemOi^n empii-e and the age of Frederick, p. 337. 
§ 466. Condition of the Gennan empire. § 467. Frederick's mtenial government. § 468. 
The Bavarian war of succession and the aUiance of princes, d. The intellectual popular 
life in Germany, p. 340. § 469. Poetrj-. § 470. Religion; historical writing; philosophy; 
education. 

VI. THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW WORLD. 



1. CONTEST OF THE ENGLISH "WITH THE FRENCH FOR THE POSSESSION 
OF NORTH AMERICA, [A. D. 1700 — 1763,] p. 342. 

§ 471. Character of the French in America; their explorations of the countiy. § 472. 
Settlement of Louisiana. § 473. Rival claims of the French and English. 474. First 
colonial war betweeu them. § 475. Second colonial war. § 476. Third colonial war; 
capture of Louisburg. § 477. Fourth colonial war; George Washington. § 478. Brad- 
dock's defeat; expatriation of the Acadians; Johnson and Dieskau. § 479. Abortive 
attempt to form a union of the Colonies. § 480. Capture of Oswego and Fort William 
Henry. § 481. Campaign of 1758; repulse at Ticonderoga. § 482. Battle of Quebec 
and death of Wolfe; cession of aU French America to England. § 483. Indian war; 
Pontiac. § 484. Prosperity of the American Colonies. 

2. THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OP 
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, p. 354. 

§ 485. Question of taxation between England and the Colonies. § 486. Attempt to enforce 
the revenue laws; Writs of Assistance. § 487. Passage of the Stamp Act; great agitation 
in America; Colonial Congi-ess. § 488. English advocates of American rights ; repeal of the 
Stamp Act. § 489. Duties on tea, &c. ; renewal of the agitation. § 490. Tumults at Boston ; 
affray with the soldiers. § 491. The tea sent back or destroyed; Boston Port Bill; Quebec 
Act; Dr. Franklin. § 492. Congress at Philadelphia. § 493. Preparations for war in Mas- 
sachusetts. § 494. Unanimity of feeling; quiet but resolute conduct of the patriots. § 495. 
Battle of Lexington. § 496. Pimctilious regard for law; siege of Boston. § 497. Capture 
of Ticonderoga; battle of Bunker Hill. § 498. Action of Congress; the Colonies form 
new constitutions of government. § 499. Washington, commander-in-chief. § 500. Expe- 
dition to Canada; repulse at Quebec. § 501. Evacuation of Boston. 502. Declaration 
of Independence. § 503. European sympathy with America; mission to France; Dr. 
Franklin. §504. Campaign of '76; defeats and losses of the Americans. § 505. Battles 
of Trenton and Princeton. § 506. Brandywine ; Germantown ; Red Bank and Fort 
Mifilin. § 507. Progress of Burgoyne ; surrender of his army. § 508. Alliance with 

b 



XIV CONTENTS. 

France; difficulties of the Amcricanfi. § 509. Monmouth ; the French at Newport; 
Wyonaing. ^ 510. War at the south ; punishment of the Indians. § 511. The Armed 
Neutrality. § 512. Smrender of Lincoln ; Camden and King's Mountain ; treason of 
Arnold. § 513. The war in Virginia; Greene's campaign. § 514. Surrender of Comwalhs. 
§ 515. Conclusion of the war. § 616. Exhaustion of the country; patriotism of Wash- 
ington. § 517. Evils from the want of union and a central government. § 518. Insubor- 
dination, anxiety, and gloom. § 519. A rebellion in ]\Iassachusetts. § 520. Fomiation 
of the Federal Constitution. § 521. Its ratification by the States ; the government 
organized. 



FOURTH BOOK. 
THE LATEST PERIOD. 

A. THE FORERUNNERS OF THE REVOLUTION, p. 388. 

1. The literature of illumination. § 522. Character of French literature. § 523. Vol- 
taire ; Montesquieu ; Rousseau. § 524. Effects of the literature of illumination ; dissolution 
of the Jesuits ; society of Uluminati. § 525. Disoi'der and contests ui Holland. 2. Inno- 
vations of princes and ministers, p. 392. § 526. Character of political and ecclesiastical 
reforms. § 527. Portugal under Pombal ; Spain ixnder Charles III. and Aranda ; France ; 
Choiseul; Turgot and Malasherbes. §528. Struensee in Denmark. §529. Gustavus m. 
of Sweden. § 530. Eeforms of Joseph II. in Austria. § 531. Internal government of Catha- 
rine II. in Russia. 3. The partition of Poland, p. 397. § 532. State of Poland ; king 
Stanislaus Poniatowski. § 533. Tlie contest with the Dissidents ; Confederation of Ea- 
dom and Bar. § 534. First Turkish war; first partition of Poland. § 535. Tauris; 
second Turkish war; Poland's new constitution. § 536. Confederation of Turgowicz; 
second partition of Poland. § 537. Poland's end. 

B. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, p. 403. 

1. The last days of absolute monarchy, pp. 403 — 433. § 538. Louis XV. and the 
empire of the passions. § 539. Taxation; parliament. § 540. Louis XVI. and his 
court; increasing financial difSculties ; Necker; Calonne. §541. Contest with tlie parlia- 
ment ; summoning of the estates-general. 2. The period of the national assembly, p. 406. 
§ 542. The third estate declares itself a national assembly. § 543. Storm of the Bastille. 
§ 544. The new system. § 545. The king and the national assembly at Paris. § 546. 
Ceremony of the federation ; death of Mirabeau ; flight of the Idug. 3. The legislative 
assembly and the fall of the monarchy, p. 410. § 547. Position of parties ; Girondist 
minister. § 548. The tenth of August. § 549. The days of September. 4. Republican 
France under the government of the National Convention, p. 414. § 650. Execution of 
the king. § 551. The war; Dumourier. § 552. Fall of the Girondists. § 553. Rule 
of the Jacobins. § 554. 1. Persecutions of the aristocrats. § 555. 2. Horrors in the 
south. § 556. Bloody scenes in La Vendee. § 557. Fall of the Dantonists. § 558. 3. 
Wars of the republic ; first coaUtion. § 559. Peace of Basle. § 560. Robespierre's fall. 
§ 561. The last days of the convention. 5. France under the Du-ectory, p. 425. § 562. 
Bonaparte m Italy. § 563. Internal state of France; Babeuf; royalists. § 564. The 
republicans in Italy ; revolution in Switzerland. § 565. War of the second coahtion. 
§ 566. Bonaparte in Egypt and Syria. § 567. The eighteenth of Brumaire. 

C. GOVERNMENT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, p. 434. 

I. The consulate (1800 — 1804). § 568. The consular constitution. §509. Marengo 
and Hoheulinden. § 570. Egypt ; the peace of Amiens ; murder of the emperor Paul. 



CONTENTS. XV 

§ 571. The new court and the concordat. § 572. Conspiracies. II. Napoleon emperor 
(1804 — 1814), p. 439. 1. § 573. The empire. 2. Austerlitz; Presburg; Confederation 
of the Rhine, p. 440. §574. Hanover; Italy; Prussia. § 575. Ulm; Trafalgar. § 576. 
Austerlitz; peace of Presburg. § 577. Establishment of the Rhenish Confederation. 

3. Jena; Tilsit; Erfurt, p. 444. § 578. Occasions of the Prussian war. §579. Battle 
of Jena, and its immediate consequences. § 580. Preuss Eylau ; Friedland ; peace of 
Tilsit. § 581. Proceedings m Sweden and Denmark; Napoleon and Alexander in Erfurt. 

4. The events in the Pyrenean peninsula, p. 448. § 582. Jxmot in Lisbon; intrigues in 
Bayonne; Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain. § 583. Insurgent war in Spain; Dupont's 
capitulation. §584. Guerilla war; La Romana; constitution of the year '12. § 685. End 
of the Peninsular war. § 586. Imprisonment of the pope. 5. The second Austrian war; 
Hofer; Schill (1809), p. 452. § 587. Aspem and Wagram. § 588. Popular war in 
the Tyrol; the peace of Vienna. § 589. Schill; WUliam of Brunswick; Stein; Scharn- 
horst. § 590. The French Empu-e at its height. 6. The war against Russia (1812), 
p. 456. § 591. Origin of the war. § 592. Napoleon in Poland. § 593. March to Moscow. 
§ 594. Retreat of the grand anny. 

D. DISSOLUTION OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE, AND ESTA- 
BLISHMENT OF A FRESH SYSTEM, p. 459. 

1. The German war of liberation, and the fall of Napoleon, p. 459. § 595. Rise of 
Germany. § 596. German war of liberty from the year 1813. § 597. Battle of Leipsic, 
and its results. § 598. Napoleon's last straggle. 2. The restoration and the Hmidred 
Days, p. 463. §599. Napoleon's abdication; the first peace of Paris. § 600. Congress 
of Vienna, and the first period of the restoration. § 601. Napoleon's return, and the 
government of the hundi-ed days. § 602. Triumph of legitimacy, and Murat's death. 
§ 603. Waterloo. § 604. St. Helena. § 605. Second peace of Paris; second restoration. 

E. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, p. 4G8. 

Washington's administration, p. 468. § 606. Character and policy of Washington. 
§607. The finances ; funding the public debt; growing prosperity of the people. § 608. 
Indian war at the northwest. § 609. Insurrection in Pennsylvania. § 610. Jay's treaty. 
§ 611. Effect of the French Revolution in America; state of parties. § 612. Washington's 
retirement and Farewell Address. Adams's administration, p. 474. § 613. State of 
parties ; quarrel with France. §614. Naval actions ; convention with Bonaparte. §615. 
Defeat of the Federalists; choice of a President. Jeflfersou's Administration, p. 477. 
§ 616. Prosperity of the country ; purchase of Louisiana. § 617. War with tlie Barbary 
powers ; the navy. 618. Peace and war parties. § 619. Aggressions on neutral trade ; 
the embargo. Madison's admuiistration, p. 480. §620. Negotiation with England ; affair 
of the Chesapeake. § 621. Progress of the quaiTel with France and England; affair of 
the Little Belt. § 622. Battle of Tippecanoe with the Indians. § 623. War with England. 
§ 624. Want of preparation ; character of the contest. § 625. Surrender of General Hull; 
disasters on the Niagara frontier. § 626. Triumphs at sea ; the finances. § 627. Win- 
chester's defeat; operations on the northern frontier ; Periy's victory; battle of the Thames. 
§ 628. Naval actions. § 629. War with the Creeks and Cherokees. § 630. Campaign 
of 1814. § 631. Battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater; siege of fort Erie. § 632. Pro- 
vost's defeat; McDonough's victory. § 633. Attack on Washington and Baltimore. 
§ 634. Battle of New Orleans. § 635. Conclusion of the war. 

F. THE PEOPLE AND STATES OF EUROPE FROM THE 
HOLY ALLIANCE TO THE PRESENT TIME, p. 491. 

1. The Holy Affiance and the position of parties, p. 491. § 636. The Holy Affiance. 
§ 637. Liberals and conservatives. 2. France, p. 492. § 638. Louis XVIU. § 639. 
Reign of Charles X. 8. The constitutional struggles in the Pyrenean peninsula and in 
Italy, p. 494. § 640. Ferdinand VU. and the Camaiilla. § 641. Victory of the constitu- 



XVI CONTENTS. 

tionalists. § 642. Intervention of the Holy Alliance in Italy. § 643. Destraction of the 
Cortes' government in Spain. § 644. Constitutional struggles in Portugal. 4. Great 
Britain, p. 497. § 045. State of England; increasing poverty. § 646. Court and govern- 
ment. § 647. Ireland. 5. Germany, p. 500. § 648. Straggle of opinions and position of 
parties. § 649. Feast of the Wartburg; Sand; decrees of Carlsbad. 6. Greece's struggle 
for liberty, p. 503. § 650. Ypsilanti and the sacred band. § 651. Greece's straggle till the 
fall of Missolonghi ; thePhilhellenists. § 652. Navarino; Adrianople; conclusion. § 653. 7. 
The new romantic literature, p. 505. § 654. 8. The July revolution of Paris and its conse- 
quences, p. 507. § 654. The July revolution. ^ 655. General consequences. § 656. The revo- 
lution in Belgium. § 657. Rise and fall of Poland. § 658. Liberal movements in Gei-many. 
§ 659. Lisurrections in Italy; struggles betvfeen throne and constitution in Spain. 9. Over- 
throw of the throne of July, and the latest revolutionary tempests, p. 514. a. The years 
of political and social agitation. \ 660. Internal state of France. § 661. Italy; Germany; 
Switzerland, h. The Paris revolution of Febraary and its consequences, p. 518. § 662. The 
revolution of February and the French republic. § 663. The March days in Vienna and 
Berlin, and commotions in Gei-many. '^ 664. Preliminary parliament ; committee of fifty ; 
national assembly. § 065. Italy's rise and fall. ^ 666. The truce of Malmci, and the 
Frankfurt September hoiTors. § 667. The Vienna October days. § 668. Programme of 
Gagern; dissolution of the Berlin National Assembly. § 069. Kremsier; Hungary's rise and 
fall. § 670. The imperial constitution, and deputation to the emperor. ^ 671. Revolu- 
tionaiy movements in Saxony, Palatinate, and Baden, and the rump parliament. § 672. 
Schleswic-Holstein ; conclusion. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, p. 531. 



BOOK FIRST. 



HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 



INTRODUCTION. 

I. THE FIRST RACE OF MEX. 

§ 1. After God in the beginning had created the heavens and the 
earth, had adorned the heavens with the sun. moon, and stars, had 
clothed the earth witli plants, and animated it with living animals ; he 
made man in his own image, the crown of creation, and designed him by 
the gifts of speech and reason for the ruler of the world. The first pair 
came forth pure and spotless from the hands of their Creator, and lived 
in childlike innocence in their native dwelling-place, Paradise, until 
seduced by the tempter, the serpent, they ate of the forbidden tree of 
knowledge, and, by this violation of the commands of God, lost their un- 
conscious innocence and the possession of their first dwelling-place. 

After this, they and their posterity were obliged to spend their lives 
in labor and trouble, and to eat their bread in the sweat of their face. 
Evil passions and desires were awakened, and disturbed the peace of 
society ; the violent impulses of a savage and unrestrained nature plunged 
the later generations deeper and deeper into the disorders of vice and 
crime, till at length a great flood, called the deluge, destroyed the whole 
race, with the exception of Noah and his descendants, from the face of 
the earth. Noah's posterity, however, increased again so rapidly, that 
the later generations, descended from his three sons, Shem, Ham, and 
Japheth, were compelled to spread themselves abroad over the neighbor- 
ing countries, on account of their home being no longer large enough to 
contain them. It then entered into their minds to erect the Tower of 
Babel, " whose top was to reach unto heaven," * and to be a perpetual 
memorial to them. God frustrated this presumptuous attempt by con- 
fusing their language, and by this diversity of speech brought about their 

*Gen. xi. 4, 



-« THE AXCIENT AVORLD. 

separation. They dispersed themselves to all the four quarters of the 
earth, and colonized the three oldest divisions of the globe, Asia, Africa, 
and Europe, forming themselves into different peoples and nations, 
according to the varieties of their language. 

II. THE MANNER OF LIVING AMONG THE EARLIEST RACES. 

§ 2. Men chose diiferent occupations and manners of living, according 
to the diversities in their places of residence. The inhabitants of steppes 
and deserts, interspersed only here and there with fruitful pasture grounds, 
chose the life of shepherds, and roved as wandering tribes from place to 
place, with their tents and herds. These are called nomads (wanderers), 
and their principal occupation is the breeding of cattle. Those who settled 
upon favorably situated parts of the sea-coast soon discovered, with 
increasing population and development, the advantages of their position. 
They practised navigation and commerce, and sought after wealth and 
comfort, and, in furtherance of these objects, were incited to lay out towns 
and erect elegant dwelling-houses ; whilst the inhabitants of inhospitable 
shores supported a joyless existence by means of fisheries. Those who 
lived on plains devoted themselves to agriculture and the arts of peace ; 
whilst the rude and hardy mountaineer gave himself up to the chase, 
and, urged on by a violent impulse for freedom, sought his delight in wars 
and battles. 

By the taming of wild cattle, man procured for himself at an early 
period those indispensable assistants of labor, domesticated animals. 

A mighty instrument in the civilization of the human race was com- 
merce, and the intercourse among different iiations that sprang out of it. 
Those who lived on fruitful plains, or on the banks of suitable rivers, 
carried on an inland trade ; the dwellers on the shores, on the contrary, 
a coasting trade. At first, men exchanged one article for another (bar- 
ter), and it was not till a later period that it occurred to them to fix a 
certain value upon the precious metals, and to employ coined money as 
an artificial and more convenient means of exchange. The inhabitants 
of towns addicted themselves to trade and inventions, and cultivated arts 
and sciences for the enriching and embellishment of life and the develop- 
ment of the human understanding. 

III. FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. DISTINCTION OF CASTES. 

§ 3. .With the process of time, nations were divided into the civilized 
and uncivilized, according as the development of their intellectual powers 
was furthered by talents and commerce, or cramped by di^lness and isola- 
tion. Uncivilized nations are either wild hordes, under the command of 
a chief who possesses uncontrolled power over life and death, or wander- 
ing nomadic tribes, guided by a leader, who, as father of the family, 
exercises the functions of prince, judge, and high priest. Neither these 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

nomadic races with their patriarchal government, nor the wild hordes that 
dwell in the unknown deserts of Africa (Negroes), in the steppes and lofty 
mountain ranges of Asia, or in the primeval forests of America, find any- 
place in history. This concerns itself only Avith those civilized nations, 
who, fi'om similarity of manners and for mutual convenience, have united 
themselves in peaceful intercourse and fellowship. 

States are divided into republican and monarchical, according to the 
form of their government or constitution. A state is called a monarchy, 
when a single person stands at the head and manages its affairs. This 
single person is called Emperor, or King, Duke, or Prince, according to 
the extent of his dominions. The term. Free State, or Republic, is given 
to that form of government in which the supreme power is placed in the 
hands of an elective body, composed of numerous members. The repub- 
lican form of government is sometimes aristocratic, that is, when only a 
few families, distinguished by birth or wealth, govern the community ; 
sometimes democratic, when the whole body of the people make the laws 
and select the responsible officers of government. 

The most ancient states were simple and uniform in their forms of 
government, and possessed for the most part that great hinderance to free- 
dom, the system of castes. By this is to be understood, a strict separation 
of men according to their states and callings, which descended in unalter- 
able succession from father to son ; by which means, all interchange of 
conditions, or passing from one state to anotlier, was rendered impracti- 
cable. The priests, who alone possessed a knowledge of the religious 
customs and institutions, and who bequeathed their knowledge to their 
descendants, constituted the first caste. The second caste comprehended 
the soldiers, who were afterwards successful in raising themselves to an 
equality with the priestly condition. Tliese two castes divided the govern- 
ment between them. The third caste were the cultivators of the soil. 
The fourth, the artisans. If shepherds constituted a distinct caste, they 
were the lowest and most despised. The institution of castes was pre- 
served for the longest time, and in the greatest purity, in India and Egypt. 

rv. THE RELIGION OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 

§ 4. As men dispersed themselves over the earth, the original belief in 
the one true God (Monotheism) was lost, and people fell into the worship 
of many deities (Polytheism), adoring the visible works of creation, more 
particularly the sun and the stars of heaven, instead of their Ci'eator, or 
else reverencing the opex'ative powers of nature as divine beings. The 
faith in a single divinity was preserved among the Jewish people alone, 
in the worship of their hereditary God, Jehovah. The religions of all 
other nations, diversified as they may be, are included under the term 
Paganism. Instead of regarding the Supreme Being, the Creator and 
Preserver of the universe, as a Spirit, and worshipping him in spirit and 



4 THE ANCIENT "WORLD. 

in truth, the ancient nations gave him the figure of a man, deified his dif- 
ferent powers and attributes, and then represented them under the greatest 
variety of forms. Idols were fashioned from stone and metal, wood and 
clay ; temples and altars were erected, and sacrifices offered to them ; 
partly to appease their wrath, and partly to obtain their favor. The sacri- 
fices varied in character with the civilization of the people who offered 
them. The Greeks and Romans instituted joyous festivals to their gods, 
in which the fruits that were presented, and the animals that were slain, 
from the modest gift of a firstling of the flock to the solemn sacrifice ot 
a hundred oxen, (hecatomb), w'ere socially consumed ; whilst savage 
tribes slaughtered human beings upon their altars, for the purpose of ap- 
peasing by blood the wrath of hostile powers, for such they considered 
their divinities to be. The Phrenician and Syrian tribes actually placed 
their own children in the arms of a red-hot idol, Moloch. If, at first, the 
image of the idol was only a visible symbol of a spiritual conception, or 
of an invisible power, this higher meaning was lost in the progress of time, 
in the minds of most nations, and they came at length to pay worship to the 
lifeless image itself. The priests alone were acquainted with any deeper 
meaning, but refused to share it with the people ; they reserved it under 
the veil of esoteric (secret) doctrine, as the peculiar appanage of their 
own class. With the same object, they invented legends, stories, and fa- 
bles about the gods whom they worshipped, clothed these in poetical 
forms, and thus gave origin to mythology, or the science of the gods. In 
these stories, the actions and histories. of the different deities, and the re- 
lations of men in regard to them, are described, not in clear and intelli- 
gible language, but veiled in enigmatical allusions, allegorical histories, 
and figurative forms of expression. The greater the amount of creative 
imagination and religious impulse possessed by a nation, the richer is its 
mythology. If these legends of the gods served to excite the people to 
superstition, the solemn worship in the sacred spaces of the temple, with 
its mysterious ceremonies and symbolical usages, was no less calculated 
to maintain in them a feeling of veneration and religious awe ; and, for 
the purpose of establishing a beMef in the presence of God, and his in- 
terference in human affairs, more firmly, sacred places and temples of 
note were provided with oracles, from which the credulous multitude 
might gain information of the future, in obscure, and oftentimes am- 
biguous, language. In this Avay, the mind of man was led away from 
Divine Truth, and ensnared in lifeless ceremonies ; the simple relations 
and inward tendency of the creature to the Creator were disturbed and 
torn asunder ; the priesthood ruled the people by the might of supersti- 
tion, and acquired wealth, honor, and power for themselves. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A. THE EASTERN RACES. 



I. THE ASIATICS. 



§ 5. Asia, called from its situation the Eastern land, was the cradle 
of the human race. The situation of Paradise must be sought for in the 
attractive neighborhood of the Himahiya mountains, the tops of which 
lose themselves in the clouds. In the East arose those great nations and 
cities whence other lands have derived a part of their civil institutions, 
their religion, and their culture, and which have consequently received 
the name of cities of civilization. In the East, the land of the camel, 
" the ship of the desert," first originated the splendid inland traffic called 
the caravan trade, which exercised so important an influence on the pro- 
gress of human culture. For the purpose of more easily undergoing the 
difficulties and perils of lengthened journeys through regions but little 
known, and thickly inhabited by predatory tribes, the Eastern merchants 
assembled themselves in companies, and escorted their wares, packed 
upon camels, from one place to another, in large, and frequently armed, 
bands. These commercial journeys were the occasion for building towns 
and places for traffic, and for the erection of storehouses and caravan- 
saries. They brought about intercourse between the inhabitants of dis- 
tant places, and were the means of communicating not only the produc- 
tions, but also the religious institutions and the social policy, of one land 
to another. Temples and oracles of celebrity frequently served for mar- 
kets and warehouses. It was in the East that nearly all the varieties of 
religion took their origin, and gained their perfect development ; not only 
the belief in one God, which prevailed among the Jews, and which after- 
wards reappeared with renewed strength and purity in Christianity, 
but the pagan v.orship of idols, in all its multiplied varieties, with its 
priestly power, its sacrifices, and its cez*emonial worship. For upon 
every thing that concerns the relation of the creature to its Maker, the 
people of the East have thought most deeply and zealously, and have 
attained results at which no other nation has arrived. 

The forms of Eastern governments and constitutions were less nume- 
rous than the religions. Amona; the nomadic races, the heads of the 
tribes ruled with patriarchal authority ; in countries where the distinc- 
tion of castes prevailed, the privileged classes were priests and soldiers : 
from both arose, in the course of time, the unlimited kingly power, (des- 
potism), which gave to the ruler the uncontrolled sovereignty of the 
nomadic chief, and the religious sanctity of the priestly king. In this 
manner, the kingly authority gradually grew to such a height in the East, 
that the possessor shared a respect almost equal to that which was paid 

1* 



b THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

the Divinity. In relation to the ruler, all the officers of state were re- 
garded as slaves and menials, without either personal rights or property. 
The king disposed at will of the lives and possessions of his subjects ; he 
gave or took away at his pleasure ; and no one dared to appear in his 
I^resence, except with his body prostrated on the ground. He lived like a 
god, in the midst of pleasure and enjoyment, surrounded by slaves, who 
complied with his wishes, executed his commands, and submitted them- 
selves to his pleasures ; and he was encircled by all the riches and pos- 
sessions, by all the pomp and magnificence, of the earth. Such govern- 
ments as these, in which law and human rights go for nothing, where 
despotism and slavery are alone to be met with, possess no vital energy 
and no capability of permanent civilization ; and for this reason, all ori- 
ental states have become the prey of foreign conquerors, and their early 
civilization has either been destroyed, or prevented from making farther 
advances. 

By original disposition, the Orientals are more inclined to contempla- 
tive ease and enjoyment than to active exertion ; hence it has come to 
pass, that the Eastern nations have never attained to freedom or sponta- 
neous activity, but have either silently submitted themselves to their na- 
tive rulers, or groaned under the yoke of foreign oppressors. 

By dint of their intellectual capacity, they quickly attained to a certain 
grade of civilization, but afterwards gave themselves up to an unenter- 
prising pursuit of pleasure, until they gradually sunk into sloth and 
effeminacy. This effeminacy was further promoted by the practice of 
polygamy, a custom peculiar to the East, which is subversive of the 
family affections, and of the domestic purity and morality which are their 
attendants. 

As regards the art of the Orientals, the gigantic designs of their build- 
ings, and their incredible patience and perseverance in erecting and 
completing them, are most worthy of admiration ; but their architecture 
never displays the symmetry, the harmonious beauty, or the adaptation 
of means to ends, which characterize the architecture of a free people. 
The productions of their arts and industry afford evidence rather of man- 
ual dexterity, attained by long practice, and rendered inalienable by the 
tyranny of castes and guilds, than of inventive genius or active handi- 
craft. Slavery hung like a leaden weight on every outward manifesta- 
tion of life in the East. 

II. THE CHINESE. 

§ 6. As the progress of the human race has in general followed the 
course of the sun, it will be most advisable to commence its history with 
the tribes of the extreme East. In the vast empire of China has lived, 
since the earliest period, a race of Mongolian origin, which has preserved 
unchanged for ages the same culture and the same institutions. Every 



INTRODUCTION^. 7 

thing is there regulated by hereditary laws and customs, and freedom is 
entirely banished. This want of progressive development is occasioned 
partly by the tenacious character of the people, which induces them to 
cling fast to the customary and traditionary modes of living ; partly by 
the empire being cut off, by mountains, seas, and the lofty and extensive 
wall of China, from all intercourse with foreign nations, and from all 
strangers being strictly prohibhed from entering the kingdom; and is 
partly produced by political institutions. The emperor, who is possessed 
of absolute power, and regarded with almost religious veneration, and the 
numerous and privileged aristocratic class (mandarins), alike compel the 
slavish and despised people to a strict observance of their traditionary 
customs and usages, and deprive them of every thing new. As the Chi- 
nese are thus prevented from profiting by the experience of foreign na- 
tions, they remain inferior to other people in civilization ; though they 
have been acquainted from the earliest ages with gunpowder, the art of 
printing, and the mariner's compass. Notwithstanding they have long 
been celebrated for their skill in the manufacture of silk, and in the pre- 
paration of porcelain, writing materials, carved work, and similar produc- 
tions, their industry cannot be compared with the commercial activity and 
dihgence in the arts of the cultivated states of the AYest. The object of 
their education is not such a development of the intellectual powers as 
would lead to the cultivation of the whole of the human faculties, but 
rather the teaching of that which their predecessors have known and 
practised before them. This education, this mode of life, and form of 
government, render the Chinese weak and cowardly ; they entertain, nev- 
ertheless, the highest opinion of their own excellence, and regard all 
other nations with lofty contempt. Their language is so clumsy and diffi- 
cult, that it requires several years to learn even to read it. The Chinese 
pay great respect to Confucius (Hong-fu-tse) as the founder 

B. C. 550. o ^^ • T ■ 

01 their religion. 

III. THE INDIANS. 

§ 7. To the south of the snow-covered heights of the lofty Himalaya, 
extends a fertile and prosperous region, blessed with a healthy and vary- 
ing climate, and rich in productions of the most diversified character. In 
this land, watered by the Indus, the Ganges, and other large rivers, lived, 
ages ago, a remarkable people, called Hindoos, or Indians, whose former 
greatness is still attested by numerous buildings, ruins of towns and 
temples, surprising memorials in inscriptions on stone, and innumerable 
historical recollections. 

The Indians are descended from the Aryans, who at one time under- 
took an expedition from their native highlands, and subjected the less 
powerful aborigines of India. They soon changed their native nomadic 
customs for the system of castes, which they adopted in its severest form. 



8 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

The most important caste were the priests, a wealthy, honorable, and pri- 
vileged class, who were called Brahraans, or Brahmins. This caste was 
considered sacred and inviolable ; they could not be subjected to corporal 
punishment for any crime, they were exempt from taxation, formed the 
chief council of the king, and filled all offices. Next to the Brahmins 
came the warriors, who, in return for their pay and certain privileges, 
were responsible for the security and defence of the kingdom. As, how- 
ever, the frequent necessity for waging war or encountering enemies was 
precluded by the remote situation of the country and the peaceful charac- 
ter of its inhabitants, these soldiers soon became slothful and degenerate, 
and thus rendered it easy for the priests to retain their political ascend- 
ancy. The kings belonged to the caste of soldiers. The farmers and 
artisans were heavily impressed with imposts, and held their land only 
in fee.* The Pariahs, from whom the Gipsies are said to be descended, 
are the dark-colored descendants of the wild aborigines, and are regarded 
by the other Indians as the refuse of mankind, and treated with the deepest 
contempt. " They do not venture to dwell in the towns, cities, or villages, 
or even in their neighborhood ; every thing they touch is looked upon 
as unclean, and it is pollution even to have seen them." Any intermix- 
ture of castes, by means of marriage, was severely prohibited. Persons 
who were guilty of an infringement of this law, were cast out of society, 
and exposed to contempt. This rigorous division into castes, Avhich the 
priests laid down as a divine ordinance, checked the progress of civil- 
ization, and was the occasion that it never passed beyond a certain point, 
and then lapsed into a state of repose and stagnation. 

RELIGION, LITERATURE, ART. 

§ 8. The Indians reverenced in Brahma a divine first principle, which 
appears under three forms, as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer ; and 
besides him, a crowd of spirits and inferior divinities. The central point 
of their religion is the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul (me- 
tempsychosis). According to this doctrine, the human soul is only joined 
to earthly bodies for the purposes of punishment, and its aim and effort are 
to again unite itself with the Divine Spirit of the universe. The Indian, 
therefore, regards existence in this world as a time of trial and punish- 
ment, which can only be abridged by a holy life, by prayer and sacrifice, 
by penance and purification. If man neglects this, and sinks himself 
still deeper into vice by departure from God, his soul after death will be 
joined to the body of a different and inferior animal, and will have to 
commence its wanderings afresh. On the other hand, the souls of the 
wise, of heroes and penitents, enter upon their upward path through shin- 

* The phraseology here is ambiguous and not strictly correct. The actual cultivators 
of the soil had only a right of occupancy, not of ownership. Am. Ed. 



INTRODUCTIOISr. 9 

ing stars, and are finally united with the spiritual first principle whence 
they proceeded. This doctrine was interpreted by the Brahmins to sig- 
nify that man could attain the end of his being only by the uninterrupted 
contemplation of divine things, and by abstraction from earthly concerns. 
They placed, therefore, a higher value upon silent meditation and ab- 
straction, than upon an active life ; withdrew from the inferior castes, and 
believed, that, by acts of penance and self-inflicted tortures, by alms-giv- 
ing and acts of outward holiness, and by the strict observance of innu- 
merable laws, rules, and precepts, they brought themselves into closer 
union with the Deity. Since it followed from the doctrine of transmi- 
gration, that the souls of men might inhabit the bodies of animals, the 
Brahmins dared not kill or injure anything endowed with life, or eat any 
flesh unless it had been offered in sacrifice. 

The Indians possessed sensibility and a creative imagination. This is 
particularly apparent in their copious literature. Many of their works 
and poems, the whole of which are composed in the sacred and now ob- 
solete Sanscrit language, and are intimately related to their religion and 
theology, are already three thousand years old. The most important 
works are the four books of the Vedas, which are held in the most pro- 
found respect, as the sources of the Brahminical religion. They contain 
religious hymns and prayers, directions respecting sacrificial offerings, 
and moral precepts and proverbs. Next to the Vedas, the code of Menu 
is held in the greatest estimation. Besides these, the Indians possess a 
great multitude of poetical works of all descriptions, distinguished by 
higlily figurative language, as well as deep sensibility and rehgious feel- 
ing. Many of these works were brought to Europe by the English who 
conquered the country, and were afterwards translated by learned men 
into German and other European languages. Indian art, as well as lite- 
rature, is intimately connected with religion. More particularly worthy 
of remark are the rock-hewn temples and grottos, of which the most cele- 
brated are to be found at Ellora in the middle of Lower India, at Salsette 
near Bombay, and at the island of Elephanta in the bay of Bombay. In 
these places, we meet with temples, grottos, dwelling-houses, and passages, 
covered with images and inscriptions hewn one above another in the rock, 
and extending for miles. These grottos contain an incredible quantity 
of works artistically and elaborately executed, whicli must have required 
the labor of many thousand hands for numberless ages, and the greatest 
patience and perseverance for their completion. 

The abundance of the productions of nature and art, pearls, precious 
stones, ivory, spice, frankincense, and silks, made India, from an early 
period, the great centre and emporium of the maritime and caravan trade; 
but it also proved a lure to foreign invaders. Disunited and dismembered, 
as well by the system of castes as by their political institutions, and ener- 
vated and stupefied by their want of freedom, the Indians fell an easy 
prey to their warlike enemies. "^ 



10 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



IV. BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 

§ 9. The fertile regions watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, and the 

grassy uplands of Mesopotamia, were formerly inhabited by Semitic 

Nimrod tribes, including the Babylonians and Assyrians. Nimrod, 

B. c. 2100. «a miighty hunter before the Lord," is named as the founder 

of the Babylonian empire, and its chief city Babylon. This city was 

built in form of a square, and washed by the waters of the Euphrates, 

Nimis, which flowed through it. A hundred years later, Ninus is said 

E. c. 2000. tQ have built the great city of Nineveh, on the banks of the 

Tigris, and to have subjected the Babylonians to his rule. The wife and 

successor of Ninus, the legendary Semiramis, is described as 
Semiramis. ,.,'.. ■■ • -, ■, 

an heroic and victorious woman, who carried her conquests 

as far as India, embellished Babylon with magnificent works, (the hang- 
ing gardens, raised u^jon terraces,) and provided her land with skilfully 
constructed roads, canals, and buildings of every description. Beneath 
the rule of her incapable and effeminate successors, the Assyrian empire 
fell gradually into decay, till at length the warlike governor of the Medes " 
rose against the unworthy sovereign, took possession of Nineveh, and 
Sardanapalus. reduced the last king, Sardanapalus, who was notorious for 
B. c. 888. his luxury, intemperance, and voluptuousness, to such straits, 
that he burnt himself in his palace, together with his wives and trea- 
sures. Nevertheless, in the following century, a few warlike sovereigns, 
Salmanasser (f^-Qioig whom were Salmanasser and Sanherib, who were dis- 
B. c. 730. tinguished by their deeds and fortunes in Palestine,) were suc- 
Sanherib, cessful in again restoring the Assyrian empire, and increasing 
B. c. 720. it hy fresh conquests. But the new Assyrian monarchy was, 
like the old, but of short duration. A hundred and twenty-five years , 
Nineveh after the reign of Salmanasser, Ni'n'eveh was taken and 

destroyed, destroyed by the Medes and Chaldeans, and the victors 
B. c. 60o. divided the land among themselves. Babylon fell to the lot 
of the Chaldeans. Antiquities and works of art are still dug from the 
ground where Nineveh once stood. 

§ 10. From this period, the Chaldeans or Babylonians possessed the 
ascendancy, particularly during the reign of the warlike and powerful 
Nebuchad- Nebuchadnezzar, who laid Judali under tribute. But the 
iiezzai-, splendor of Babylon soon passed away. A generation later, 

B. c. 600. ij^g Medes were the dominant race, and after them came the 
Persians. Babylon was provided with wonderful architectural works by 
the Chaldees. A broad and lofty wall surrounded the whole city, which is 
said to have had a circumference of nearly sixty miles. The two impe- 
rial palaces on the banks of the Euphrates, the square and lofty temple 
of Baal, the god of the sun, which was magnificently adorned with sta- 
tues and ornaments of gold, and served the purposes of an observatory, 
were, together with the hanging gardens, the most remarkable objects. 



, INTRODUCTION. 11 

In building, the Chaldeans made use of burnt bricks. Their water 
buildings, bridges, canals, dams, dikes, and so forth, were the most re- 
markable of their works. The worship of the heavenly bodies led the 
Babylonian priests (who were more especially called Chaldeans) to make 
astronomical observations ; they reckoned the course of the sun, and di- 
vided the year : but as they mingled astrological speculations with their 
science, they fell into errors, and wandered about the world at a later 
period as diviners, intei'preters of dreams, and magicians. We are also 
indebted to the Chaldeans for the divisions of weights and measures, and 
for the elements of geometry and medicine. The fertility of the land, 
and their extensive commerce, brought wealth and its necessary attend- 
ants, splendor and luxury. The Babylonians were, in consequence, not 
less celebrated for their luxurious productions, their fine linen, their 
sumptuous carpets, &c., than they were renowned and infamous for their 
sensuality, their luxury, and their voluptuousness. Masses of ruins, and 
heaps of rubbish, and a few monuments with inscriptions, mark the spot 

where once stood the world-renowned Babylon. 

• 

V. THE EGYPTIANS. 

§ 11. The Greeks called Egypt a gift of the Nile; for it is from the 
regular annual overflow of the river, occasioned by rains in the high lands 
of Abyssinia, the waters of which are drawn off by all sorts of means, 
canals, dams, and cisterns, that the land preserves its remarkable fertility. 
The valley of the Nile was divided, even at a remote period, into three 
parts. First, Upper Egypt, whei'e the vast and striking ruins of Thebes, 
with their gigantic fragments of statues and columns, their colossal 
sphinxes, (lions with women's heads), the tombs of kings hewn in the 
bare rock, the subterranean catacombs, and the prostrate colossal statue 
of Memnon, which is reported to have uttered musical sounds at the 
rising of the sun, yet testify to the former splendor and magnificence of 
the priestly city. Secondly, Middle Egypt, with its capital, Memphis, 
the vicinity of which is also distinguished by the magnificent remains of 
an historical antiquity. Among these are the ruins of the Labyrinth, a 
building consisting of a number of intricate passages communicating with 
each other, and the group of pyramids, which to this day are gazed upon 
with amazement, as the miracles of architectural science. These pyra- 
mids are built of hard freestone, rise from a square base, and terminate 
at an immense height, in a point, or small flat surface ; they appear to 
have served as the sepulchral memorials of kings. Thirdly, Lower 
Egypt, with its ancient metropolis, Heliopolis, which was, however, after- 
wards eclipsed by Alexandria, and the historically remarkable places, 
Sais, Naiicratis, &c. Two branches of the Nile inclose Lower Egypt, 
and, together with the sea, give it the triangular form whence it derives 
its name, Delta. 



12 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

§ 12. Egypt possessed, at an inconceivably early period, numberless 
towns and villages, and a high amount of civilization. Arts, sciences, 
and civil pi'ofessions were cherished there, so that the Nile-land has always 
been regarded as the mysterious cradle of human culture ; but the system 
of castes checked free development and continuous improvement. Every 
thing subserved a gloomy religion and a powerful priesthood, who held 
the people in terror and superstition. The doctrine, that, after the death 
of man, the soul could not enter into her everlasting repose unless the 
body were preserved, occasioned the singular custom of embalming the 
corpses of the departed to preserve them from decay, and of treasuring 
them up, in the shape of mummies, in shaft-like passages and mortuary 
chambers. Through this belief, the priests, who, as judges of the dead, 
possessed the power of giving up the bodies of the sinful to corruption, 
and by this means occasioning the transmigration of their souls into the 
bodies of animals, obtained immense authority. The religion of the 
Egyptians consisted partly in the woi'ship of the heavenly bodies, but 
also bore relation to the Nile and the natural qualities of the country. 
Their principal deities were Osiris, Senipis, and Isis; but as, besides 
these gods, the animals sacred to them were objects of veneration, the 
Egyptian religion gradually degenerated into the most monstrous animal 
worship. This degeneracy became apparent in their art. At first, the 
statues of their gods were represented with the human figure, although 
in stiff attitudes and in stern and solemn repose ; but they appeared, at a 
later period, with the heads of beasts, and soon after, under an exclusively 
animal form. Notwithstanding the magnificence of their architectural 
prQductions, and the vast technical skill and dexterity in sculpture and 
mechanical appliances which they display, the Egyptians have produced 
but little in literature or the sciences ; and even this little was locked up 
from the people in the mysterious hieroglyphical writing, which was 
understood by the priests alone. There wei'e three kinds of these hiero- 
glyphics, which are met with on the writing-rolls which the Egyptians 
prepared out of an aquatic plant called papyrus, and on the obelisks, — • 
pointed, four-cornered columns, hewn from a single block of granite, and 
erected before the porticos of the temples. 

Egypt was already an object of wonder and curiosity, in the time of 
the Romans ; and such she remains, even to the present day. The fact 
is attested by the eleven obelisks and the innumerable Egyptian carvings 
in the hardest stone, at present in Kome, and by the multitude of mum- 
mies, ancient utensils, trinkets and ornaments, rolls of papyrus, and so 
forth, that are to be met with in all the museums and cabinets of natural 
history in Europe. But much as we may admire the patience of the 
Egyptians, and their skill and dexterity in the practice of their arts, we 
are everywhere struck with a want of free development, creative industry, 
and personal freedom. The curse of the caste-system lay upon every 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

external manifestation of life, whilst superstition and religious oppression 
gave a gloomy coloring to existence, and disturbed every cheerful and 
pleasurable feeling. 

§ 13. So long as the priestly class possessed the government and 
elected the king, the " hundred-gated " Thebes may have remained the 
principal city; but when the Egyptians were subjected to hostile attacks 
from neighboring nations, and the military caste attained in consequence 
to greater importance, Memphis appears to have been chosen as the me- 
tropolis of Middle Egypt. Warlike sovereigns were about this time suc- 
cessful in raising the military caste to an equality with the priestly, so 
that they divided their privileges between them, and were both subjected 
Ses(5stris, to the kingly power. Sesdstris, who reduced the Ethiopians 
B. c. 1500. to tribute, and who is said to have reigned over a consider- 
able portion of Asia and Africa, is particularly mentioned as one of these 
Ma?ris and victorious monarchs. After him, Moeris and Cheops are the 
Cheops, 1080. niost reuowncd kingly names. The first, on account of the lake 
which he constructed, and which was named after him, and which appears 
to have served the purpose of regulating the. inundations of the Nile ; the 
second, as the builder of the largest of the pyramids, which is 450 French 
feet in height, and on which 100,000 men are said to have been employed 
for 40 years. The lives and actions of these ancient kings are shrouded in 
darkness. The gloom begins to disappear about the middle of the seventh 
oentury, when the royal house of Siiis, in Lower Egypt, assumed the 
sovereignty, in the person of Psammeticus. For the purpose of weakening 
the power of the priests, Psammeticus entered into alliance with the 
Greeks, and received Greek soldiers and colonists into Egypt. Disgusted 
at this proceeding, 240,000 Egyptians migrated into Nubia, and there 
founded a state of their own. Among the successors of Psammeticus, 
Necho Necho, the founder of the Egyptian naval and maritime 

B. c. 800. power, and the warlike Amasis, are particularly to be men- 
tioned. The son of the latter, Psammeni'tus, lost both kingdom and vic- 
tory to the Persians, in the bloody battle of Pelusium (Suez). The 
Persians afterwards reigned over Egypt for a period of 200 years. But 
the Egyptians did not unite themselves with their conquerors ; they re- 
tained their own manners, institutions, and religious customs, together 
with their aversion to every thing foreign. 

VI. THE PHCENICIAKS 

§ 14. On the narrow strip of coast between the Mediterranean and 
Lebanon, dwelt the maritime and commercial people of Plicenicia, in 
many populous towns, among wliich Tyre and Sidon were the most 
remarkable. The Phoenicians, an active and energetic race, would not 
subject themselves to the restraints imposed by the caste-system. On the 
contrary, every city, with the territory adjacent to it, constituted an inde- 

2 



14 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

pendent commonwealth, at the head of which stood an hereditary sove- 
reign, whose power, however, was greatly restricted by the priests and 
nobles. Collectively they formed a league of towns, of which, at first 
Sidon, and afterwards Tyre, was the chief". Intellectual activity and dili- 
gence in business led this people to many discoveries ; among them were 
glass, the art of dyeing purple, and of wi'iting by means of letters. They 
were also distinguished by their skill in casting metals, weaving, archi- 
tecture, and various other matters. Sidonian garments, Tyrian purple, 
Phoenician glass, and articles of ivory, gold, and other metals, were pre- 
cious and coveted wares in all antiquity. The favorable situation of their 
country made them sailors, and the cedars of Lebanon supplied the mate- 
rials for ship-building. Not only did the Phoenicians navigate the coasts 
and islands of the Mediterranean in their splendid ships, for the purpose 
of trafficking both in their own productions and in those of the distant East, 
spices, frankincense, oil, wine, corn, and slaves, but they even ventured 
beyond the Pillars of Hercules, (Straits of Gibraltar), purchased tin from 
the inhabitants of the British Isles, and amber from the people of the 
Baltic, and undertook venturous expeditions to India (Ophir) and the 
southern parts of Arabia. They are even said to have doubled the Cape 
of Good Hope, in a voyage of three years' duration, undertaken at the 
instigation of Necho, King of Egypt. They established colonies on Crete 
and Cyprus, at Sicily and Sardinia, in the south of Spain (Tartessus and 
Gades, now called Cadiz), and in northern Africa. The commercial 
city, Carthage, founded there by the Tyrians, under the con- 
duct of Queen Dido, soon eclipsed the renown of the mother 
country. The Phoenicians paid less attention than the other Oriental 
nations to the cultivation of religion. Their worship of Moloch was 
accompanied with frightful human sacrifices, that of Baal with obscene 
rites. 

§ 15. In their contests with the warlike nations of Asia, the Phoeni- 
cians displayed both courage and patriotism. When the Assyrian Sal- 
manasser subjected Phoenicia to his sceptre, and compelled 
the inhabitants to pay tribute, the Tyrians built New Tyre 
upon a neighboring island, and defended it with success, for five years, 
against the superior power of the enemy. The merchant fleet of Tyre 
soon a";ain ruled the sea. Even the Babylonian Nebuchad- 

B. C. 590. 

nezzar, who had subdued the mainland of Phoenicia, and had 

transplanted the inhabitants of Old Tyre, along with the Jews, into the 

interior of his kingdom, was unable to shake the courage of the New 

Tyrians. But these repeated attacks seem to have broken their power ; 

for when, shortly after, the Persians subjected the countries of western 

Asia, Tyre also lost its freedom and independence. Phoenicia became a 

Persian province. In the middle of the fourth century, the 
B. C. 350. 

oppression of the foreign governor produced a rebellion, at 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

the head of which stood Sidon. It was unsuccessful. Sidon fell into the 
hands of the Persian king ; and when this prince gave orders for the 
execution of the principal citizens, the inhabitants themselves set fire to 
the town, and consumed themselves and their treasures. Tyre existed 
some time longer ; but when Alexander the Macedonian overthrew the 
Persian empire, and Tyre, proud of its former glory, ventured to oppose 
the conqueror, it was taken and destroyed after a seven 
months' siejre. It never recovered from this stroke ; and its 
trade and maritime power Avere transferred to Alexandria. 

VII. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. 

§ 16. "Whilst the whole world was sunk into idolatry, a people of shep- 
herds, of Semitic origin, dwelling in Mesopotamia, preserved the ori- 
Abralmm ginal belief in a single God. Abram (Abraham), one of the 
B. c. 2000. ancestors of this nomadic race, left his native pastures at the 
command of Jehovah, and settled himself, with his cattle, his men-ser- 
vants and maidens, and his brother's son, Lot, in "the promised land" 
Canaan (Palestine), where they continued their pastoral life, and received 
from the inhabitants the name of the "Strangers from the other side" 
(Hebrews). Isaac, who was born to Abraham by Sarah at an advanced 
period of life, continued the race ; whilst Ishmael, Abraham's son by his 
concubine Hagar, is regarded as the progenitor of the Arabs. Isaac took 
to wife Rebekah, one of his own relatives acknowledging the true faith, 
who brought him two sons, Esau and Jacob. By the cunning of his 
mother, Jacob, the younger son, contrary to the usage that had hitherto 
obtained, was declared to be the chief of his race, but could only gain pos- 
Jacob. session of his inheritance after a long period of probation. 

E. c. 1836. Jacob had twelve sons ; but as he distinguished Joseph, the 
gift of his beloved Rachel, by his peculiar affection, the others, moved 
Joseph, hy envy, entertained the purpose of getting rid of their 

B. c. 1750. brother, and sold him to some ti'avelling merchants, who 
took him with them into Egypt. As Joseph held fast his integrity, God 
rewarded him with prosperity and wisdom. By his skill in the inter- 
pretation of dreams, he obtained the favor of the Egyptian king, and 
arrived at high dignity and honors. He saved the land from famine, and 
by this means attained such credit, that he was permitted to invite his 
father and brethren into Egypt, and to bestow upon them the fertile pas- 
ture-lands of Goshen. The Hebrews were generally called Israelites, 
from Jacob's surname of Israel. 

§ 17. At first, the Israelites were prosperous in the rich meadows 
of Goshen. But when Joseph was dead, and fresh rulers, who knew 
nothing of his services, assumed the government, dislike to strangers, and 
contempt for the pastoral state, incited the Egyptians to cruelty and 
severity against the foreigners. They commenced by imposing severe 



16 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

socage duties upon them ; and when it was found that, despite this op- 
pression, thej increased so rapidly that the Egyptians at length became 
alarmed at their superior numbers, Pharaoh gave commandment to drown 
all their newly-born male children in the Nile. 

Moses Moses would have experienced this fate, had not the 

B. c. 1500. daughter of Pharaoh, who chanced to be walking on the 
banks of the river just as he was about to be drowned, taken pity on the 
infant, and saved him. Moses came to the Egyptian court, where he was 
carefully bi'ought up, and instructed in all wisdom. The slaughter of an 
Egyptian, whom he saw misusing one of the Israelites, compelled him, 
when he was forty years old, to fly to the deserts of Arabia. It was here 
that he was inspired with the lofty purpose of becoming the deliverer of 
his people from their Egyptian bondage. At first, Pharaoh refused to 
let the Israelites depart ; but after terror and distress had been spread 
over the land by the ten plagues which were sent upon it, he at length 
consented to the retreat required by Moses and his brother Aaron. The 
attempt to bring them back again by force, after their passage over the 
Red Sea, was attended with the destruction of the pursuers. 

§ 18. For a period of forty years, Moses led a discontented people, 
who were often pining for the fleshpots of Egypt, wandering in the desert, 
for the purpose of strengthening their bodies, restoring virtue and a love 
of freedom to their minds, and of rearing up a young and hardy race, 
who should possess strength and courage for the conquest of the promised 
land. It was during this period that the Ten Commandments, and other 
laws relative to the religion and policy of the Israelites, were delivered 
to Moses on Mount Sinai. These laws were preserved in the ark of the 
covenant, the most sacred of tabernacles. Their interpreters were the 
high priests, to whose office Aaron and his posterity were appointed. By 
their side stood the Levites, as sacrificing priests, teachers, lawyers, and 
physicians. According to the system of Moses, Jehovah himself was king 
and ruler ; it was in his name that the elders of the tribes conducted the 
temporal government, whilst the chief priest and Levites superintended 
the affairs of religion. Sacrifices and feasts (those of the Passover, Pen- 
tecost, and Tabei'nacles) formed the pleasant bond between Jehovah and 
the " chosen " people. In the sabbath-year, the lands were left untilled, 
and that which grew spontaneously was given up to the poor. In every 
fiftietli year (year of Jubilee), lands that had been alienated were returned 
to their original possessors, that property might not be too unequally 
divided. Moses determined upon agriculture in preference to the pastoral 
life, as the principal occupation of his people. 

§ 19. It was not permitted to the great lawgiver to lead his people 
into the promised land. He gazed from the top of Mount Nebo on the 
Joshua, beautiful plains of the Jordan, and then departed from among 

B. c. 1450. the living, after having chosen Joshua as his successor, 



THE EASTERN RACES. 17 

and exhorted the assembled people to hold fast upon the God of their 
fathers, and to root out the Canaanites. Scarcely, however, had the peo- 
ple, under the command of the valiant Joshua, conquered the Amorites 
and the other tribes, than they gave up war, and demanded the distribu- 
tion of the vanquished lands. This distribution took place by lot (in 
accordance with the regulation of Moses) among the twelve sons of Jacob, 
in such a way that Ephraim and Manasseh succeeded to equal shares; 
while, on the other hand, the descendants of Levi had no distinct inherit- 
ance, and received only a few towns and a tenth part of the productions 
of the earth. Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, chose the pasture- 
land on the east of Jordan ; the others settled on the western side of 
the river. 

§ 20. But many powerful tribes, as the Ammonites and Philistines, 
were still left unsubdued, and disturbed the Israelites in the enjoyment 
of their possessions. Bloody and destructive wars induced a rude and 
barbarous condition of society ; and the Israelites not unfrequently forgot 
the living God, who had brought them out of bondage, and fell into the 
practice of idolatry, until misfortunes and defeats again brought them 
back to a better understanding. At these times, men of heroic courage 
would arise, defeat the enemy in victorious fields, and restore the ancient 
manners and the faith of their ancestors. These men are called Judges, 
in the sacred writings. . . . The most renowned among them are Gideon, 
Samuel Jephthah, Samson the strong, and the heroic Deborah. But 

B. c. 1150. the high priest Samuel, a pious and patriotically disposed 
man, was the first who was successful in reuniting the ancient ties which 
bound the people of Israel to their God, and in restoring to the laws of 
Moses their former ascendancy. He overthrew the Philistines, and 
founded the schools whence proceeded those inspired oracles of the peo- 
ple, distinguished in the Bible by the name of Prophets. 

§ 21. The sons of Samuel did not walk in the steps of their father, but 
perverted the right. At this period, the Israelites, in imitation of the 
surrounding nations, desired a king, who, as perpetual chief, might lead 
them forth to battle and victory. It was in vain that the gray -headed 
high priest sought to dissuade them from this request, whilst he portrayed 
in. the strongest colors the misery and oppression that awaited them under 
a kingly rule. The Israelites persisted in their intention, and Samuel 
Saul, anointed Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, to be king. Saul 

* B. c. 1095. -R-as a man of majestic person, brave, experienced in military 
affairs, and successful in the field ; but as he placed his trust in his army, 
and did not hold fast the commandments of Jehovah, he was rejected, and 
Samuel anointed the shepherd lad, David, of the tribe of Judah. Saul at 
this time was attacked with a spirit of melancholy, which nothing but the 
harp of David could alleviate. But envy of the renown acquired by 
David in the wars against the Philistines, and a secret presentiment of 
2* 



18 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

the destiny that awaited liim, urged Saul to hate and persecute the young 
shepherd ; Saul's son, Jonathan, on the other hand, was devoted to hiin 
with true affection. David, nevertheless, in the midst of dangers and 
distresses, escaped the attempts of his enemy ; and at length, when Saul, 
after having sustained a defeat, threw himself in despair upon his sword, 
David was gradually recognized as king by the whole of the tribes. 
Dayicl § 22. The reign of David is the glorious period of Jewish 

B. c. 1050. history. By means of successful wars, he enlarged his king- 
dom to the South and East; he made the Syrian town, Damascus, his 
footstool, and broke forever the power of the Philistines ; he conquered 
Jerusalem, the chief city of the Jebusites, together with the strong for- 
tress Zion, and selected it for a residence, and the central point of a 
solemn religious worship ; and with this view, commanded the ark of the 
covenant to be brought thither. David was also a great poet, as is abun- 
dantly shown by his admirable religious hymns (Psalms); and despite 
many grievous transgressions, he still remained the " man after God's 
own heart," since by sorrow and repentance he always regained the for- 
giveness of Jehovah. The end of his reign was disturbed by the rebel- 
Solomon liori of his beloved son, Absalom, who was led astray by evil 
B. c. 1000. counsellors. The wise Solomon completed the work of his 
father. As David had been great in war, so his son was illustrious in 
the arts of peace. He adorned his capital with splendid buildings, and 
erected on the hill of Mon'ah, by the aid of Tyrian artists and masons, 
the magnificent temple which bore his own name, and which, on account 
of the richness of its gilding and ornaments, was the object of universal 
admiration. But Solomon departed in many things from the laws of 
Moses. He traded with the neighboring nations, and thereby acquired 
incalculable wealth, which stimulated his love of luxury, pleasure, and 
magnificence ; he took to himself wives from a foreign people, permitted 
them the exercise of their idolatrous worship, and even took part in it 
himself. His lofty mind and admired wisdorii did not secure him from 
folly. His love of magnificence and extravagance was the occasion of 

oppressive taxes ; and even during his own life, an insurrec- 
Jeroboam. . , , , , . ■, p t i / mi • 

tion broke out under the guidance oi Jeroboam. Ihis was 

indeed suppressed, and the originator compelled to take flight ; but when 
Eehoboam Solomon's son, Rehobdam, pursued the same course his father 
B. c. 975. had taken, and repelled with threats the prayers of the peo- 
ple for relief, many of the tribes fell from him, and chose Jeroboam for 
king. Judah and Benjamin alone remained faithful to the legitimate 
royal race. 

§ 23. From this division there arose two states of unequal magnitude, 
the kingdom of Israel, or Ephraim, formed of ten of the tribes, with its 
capitals, Shechcm and Samaria, and the kingdom of Judah, consisting of 
two tribes, with its chief city, Jerusalem. As Jerusalem preserved the 



THE EASTERN RACES. 19 

ark of the covenant, and was in consequence regarded by the Levites 
and many pious Israelites as the true chief city, Jeroboam set up the 
worship of idols in the southern and northern parts of his kingdom, a sin 
which was shared by the whole of his successors. One of the most im- 
pious among these was Ahab, whose wife, Jezebel, a Tyrian, introduced 
the blasphemous Phoenician worship of Baal, and raged violently against 
those who would not do him homage. By means of her daughter, Atha- 
h'ah, who was married to a king of Judah, the same worship was intro- 
duced into Judah, and favored by the court. The consequences were, 
intense hatred and contention, and at length, civil wars between the two 
kingdoms, by which they were mutually weakened ; they then entered 
into alliances with other nations. The voices of the prophets, who boldly 
foretold the destruction of the state if the worship of Jehovah were thrust 
aside for the worship of idols, died away unheeded. When the land was 
threatened by the Babylonians and Assyrians, Isaiah referred to the 
coming Messiah as the only Savior; and Jeremiah lived to see that 
desti'uction of the state, concerning which he had in vain warned the 
blinded people. 

§ 24. The .Ephraimitic kingdom of Israel was first subjected to tribute 
by the Assyrians. But when the king, Hoshea, entered into an alliance 
with the Egyptians for the purpose of escaping from this impost, the 
Assyrian king marched an army into the land, subdued Samaria, and led 
away the king, with the greater portion of his subjects, into 
the Assyrian captivity. Foreigners entered into the land, 
and the intermixture of these with the remaining Israelites gave rise to 
the Samaritans. Judah survived 130 years longer. After the fall of 
Israel, it became tributary to Assyria. But when this nation went to 
war with Egypt, the king of Judah sided with the latter, and refused the 
tribute to the Assyrians. The Assyrian king, Sanherib, (Sennacherib,) 
came up against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. But Judah's hour was 
not yet come, whilst the pious Hezekiah sat upon the throne. The host 
of the Assyrians was almost entirely destroyed in a single night, and San- 
herib (Sennacherib) retreated from the land in horror. It was to the 
victorious Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, that it was first allotted to make 

an end of the nation polluted with new idolatries. He took 
B. c. 600. '■ 

Jerusalem, plundered the temple, carried away the king and 
the chief inhabitants into the interior of his dominions, and oppressed with 
a heavy hand those whom he suffered to remain. This induced the last 

kinsr, Zedekiah, to try once more the chances of war; but he 

B. C. 588. . . 

met with little success. Nebuchadnezzar burnt the city and 
temple, slaughtered the citizens, and at length carried away the deluded 
king and the greater part of his people into the seventy years' Babylonian 
captivity. In their necessity, the Jews again sought the God of their 
fathers, and found grace in his sight. One of the prisoners, the prophet 



20 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

Daniel, arrived at high honors, and alleviated the fate of his brethren. 

After some years, Babylon was conquered by the Persians, 

upon which Cyrus suffered the JeAvs to return to their 

homes. Only a small portion returned at first, under the conduct of 

Zeriibbabel ; these commenced the rebuilding of the temple. But as 

they avoided all intercourse with the Samaritans, this people, moved by 

hatred, endeavored in every possible way to disturb their purpose. Tliey 

procured a prohibition of the building, which was already commenced, 

515 ^"^ which, in consequence, was not completed till the reign 

of Darius. During the reign of Artaxerxes in Persia, fresh 

B. c. 460. troops, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, returned to their homes, 

rebuilt the city, and reestablished the laws of Moses. They had been 

taught by suffering, that salvation and deliverance were only to be found 

in a steadfast adherence to the faith of their ancestors; and from this 

time forth, they were more careful in shunning idolatry, and all contact 

with idolatrous nations. 

VIII. MEDES AND PERSIANS. 

§ 25. Media and Persia, two countries where savage and occasionally 
attractive mountainous regions alternate with rich pasture grounds and 
fertile arable lands, were formerly inhaWted by tribes who drew their 
origin from the ancient Zend races dwelling farther to the eastward. 
They possessed a remarkable religion, which was founded by the ancient 
sage, Zoroaster, and had been delineated by him in the sacred books of 
the Zend-Avesta. According to this system, there are two first princi- 
ples ; a spirit of light, Ormuzd, and an evil spirit of darkness, Ahriman. 
Both of these have armies of similar spirits under them, and are to wage 
perpetual war with each other till the end of the world, when the spirit 
of light will become victorious ; upon this, the evil spirit is to disappear, 
and the human race to be rendered happy. This doctrine was repre- 
sented by a powerful hierarchy of priests, the Magi, in a solemn religious 
ceremonial. The god of light was worshipped under the form of the 
sun and of fire, the spirit of darkness was propitiated by sacrifices and 
prayers. 

§ 26. The Medes remained for a long time under the dominion of foreign 
nations ; at length, they roused their courage and fought valiantly for 
their freedom. But a few warlike kings soon after succeeded in suppress- 
ing the newly-acquired liberties of the people, and in establishing a mili- 
tary despotism. They at the same time subdued some of the neighboring 
people, and among others, the cognate tribe of the Persians. But their 
Astyages, rule was but of short duration ; Astyages, the last of the Me- 
B. c. 575. dian kings, had a vision, which the diviners interpreted to 
signify, that the son of his daughter should, at some time, rule over 
Media and western Asia. Alarmed at this, he gave his daughter in mar- 



/ THE EASTERN RACES. 21 

riage to a petty prince of the subjected ti'ibe of Persians, and when she 
brought forth a son named Cyrus, he commanded him to be put to death 
in the obscurity of a remote forest. Cyrus only escaped the fate designed 
for him, through the compassion of the shepherd to whom the execution 
of the murder was intrusted. He was brought up as the son of the shep- 
herd, but whilst yet a youth, gave such evidence in his pastimes of an in- 
nate spirit of command, as led to his being brought before the king and 
recognized. Astyages, pacified by the diviners, now allowed Cyrus to be 
brought up in ainanner suitable to his rank, and sent him back, when he 
had arrived at mafurity, to his parents in Persia. It was here that the 
project of freeing his brave but subjected countrymen from the yoke of 
the Medes, and leading them forth to victory and conquest, first arose in 
his mind. His mighty spirit and commanding person compelled the Per- 
sians to admiration and obedience. He marched against the Medes ; 
Astyages, betrayed and overcome, relinquished the throne to his success- 
Cyrus, ful grandson, who now became the founder of an empire that 
B. c. 560. embraced almost all the civilized nations of Asia. 

§ 27. At this time. King Croesus, who possessed such enor- 
mous wealth that his name is become proverbial, reigned in 
Sardis, the principal city of Lydia. Cyrus declared war against him. 
CrcEsus, deceived by an ambiguous oracle, passed over the boundary stream 
of the Halys to attack the Persians, but sufiered a defeat, and was obliged 
to fly in haste to his capital. Cyrus pursued him, took Sardis, and com- 
manded the captured king to be cast into the flames. Crcesus already 
sat bound upon tJie funeral pile, when his recollection of Solon, the wise 
man of Athens, saved him from destruction. Solon had once visited Sar- 
dis, and been hospitably entertained by the king. Proud of his prosperity, 
Croesus had the sage led through his treasure-chambers, and displayed 
before him the whole of his riches. He then asked him who it was that 
he considered to be the happiest of mortals, nothing doubting that Solon 
would name Croesus. The sage, however, mentioned a few persons, 
who, after leading a virtuous life, had met w'ith a becoming death : when 
Crcesus again asked him whether he did not' look upon himself as a 
happy man, Solon made the significant reply, " that no man could be con- 
sidered happy before death." These words occurred at this moment to 
the captive king, and he exclaimed bitterly, " Oh ! Solon, Solon ! " The 
exclamation awakened the curiosity of Cyrus ; he had the story related 
to him, and struck by the truth of the words of Solon, set Croesus at 
liberty, held him in high estimation, and consulted him in all his under- 
takings. 

§ 28. With the same good fortune did Cyrus overthrow the empire of 
Babylon. As the Babylonians, in full security of the impregnability of 
their city, were celebrating a festival, and their luxurious king, Nabon- 
nedus, (Belshazzar), was contemptuously defiling the sacred vessels of 



22 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

the Jews, the Persians penetrated into the town by an arm of the 

Euphrates, the waters of which they had drained off, killed the king, and 

subdued the country. By this conquest, Syria, Palestine, 

and Phoenicia also fell under the dominion of the Persians, 

and the captive Jews received permission to return to their country. 

Soon after this, Cyrus undertook an expedition against the Massagetss, 
a wild nomadic race, living near the borders of the Caspian Sea. He 
was successful at first, by means of a military stratagem, and destroyed 
many of the enemy, among them a son of their queen, Thomyris. But 
shortly after this, he and a great part of his army fell into the hands of 
the Massagetge ; and the queen, thirsting for revenge, cast the severed 
head of the mighty Persian king, with an expression of contempt, into a 
vessel filled with blood. 

Camb3'ses, § 29. Cambyses, the victorious and tyrannical son of Cyrus, 

B. c. 529. enlarged the Persian empire by the conquest of Egypt. The 
fate of the dwellers on the Nile was frightful. The unfortunate king, 
Psammem'tus, after witnessing the oppi'ession of his subjects, 
and the dishonor of his family, M^as put to a violent death ; 
the Egyptian temples and sanctuaries were profaned, the treasures plun- 
dered, and the inhabitants abused. But the Persians also encountered a 
heavy doom. Two armies, that Cambyses despatched for the conquest of 
the priestly state of Ammonium, found their graves in the sandy deserts 
of Libya. This state had its central point in the temple and oracle of the 
ram-horned Jupiter- Ammon, in the oasis of Siwah, and was, like Thebes, 
a colony of the original pontifical state, Meroe, which had once subsisted 
in Nubia, in the midst of a savage negro population. Cambyses died 
after a violent reign of seven years, in consequence of an injury he acci- 
dentally inflicted on himself with his own sword. The Egyptians ascribed 
his sudden death to the vengeance of the gods for the slaughter of the 
sacred ox, Apis. 

Do^-as § 30. Some time after this, seven illustrious Persians 

Hystaspes, agreed together, that they would ride in the direction of the 
B. c. 521. rising sun, and that the man whose horse neighed first should 
be made king. In this manner, Darfus, the son of Hystaspes, and the son- 
in-law of Cyrus, gained the throne, which he occupied, not without re- 
nown, for the space of thirty-six years. He divided the kingdom into 
satrapies, regulated the imposts, and conducted great wars. But his arms 
were not always successful. When he invaded the nomadic tribes, called 
Scythians, dwelling on the steppes of the lower Danube, this people 
retreated with their tents and herds, and surrendered their naked fields 
to the enemy, who were soon reduced by want to the brink of destruction; 
and when at length attacked by the Scythians, were compelled to make a 
most disastrous retreat over the Danube. 

§ 31. The simple manners and military virtue of the Persians soon 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 23 

degenerated. The magnificence of the court, where crowds of officials 
luid priestly counsellors, of servants and guards, battened on the pros- 
perity of the country, destroyed the well-being of the provinces. The 
royal table was furnished with dishes and liquors of the rarest quality, 
brought from the most distant regions. A harem of ostentatious and 
intriguing women, who frequently had the revenues of whole towns and 
provinces allotted to them to defray the expenses of their trinkets and 
wardrobes, increased this luxury and profuseness. The court moved 
with the seasons. The winter was passed in the genial climate of Baby- 
lon ; the spring in Susa ; the summer in the cool Ecbatana. Numerous 
gardens arranged for the production of fruit, and inclosures where wild 
animals were preserved, contributed to the more refined pleasures of the 
Persian monarchs when on their travels. The governors of the pro- 
vinces imitated the luxury and extravagance of the royal court, to the 
detriment of their lands, which were protected neither by laws nor the 
regular administration of justice from arbitrary and despotic authority. 
For the rest, the vast empire of Persia was but a conglomeration of 
heterogeneous elements, where the most diversified manners, institutions, 
and nationalities were approximated to each other without internal union, 
without strength, and without support. 



B. HISTORY OF GREECE. 

I. GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. — a. THE GREEK CONTINENT. 

§ 32. Greece is the southern portion of a large half-insular piece of 
land, which appears broad and unbroken in its northern part, narrow, 
irregular, and perforated by bays and inlets on its southern coast. It is 
traversed by numerous ranges of mountains, and consists of rock}'- and 
Lilly tracts, which divide the country into a multitude of small, secluded, 
and isolated regions, and ftivor the production of numerous and separate 
states. Greece is divided into — Northern Greece, Central Greece, and 
Peloponnesus. Northern Greece consists of the rude mountain region 
of Epi'rus and Thessaly. Between these two lands extends, from north 
' to south, the wild and rugged mountain range of Pindus, the summit of 
which is almost always covered with snow. Thessaly, with its fruitful 
plains and luxuriant pasture grounds, admirably fitted for the breeding of 
horses, is inclosed by another branch of the same range. The vale of 
Tempo, near Olympus, the hill of the gods, was celebrated in antiquity 
for its natural beauties. Among the cities may be mentioned Lan'ssa, 
on the Pencus, and Pharsalus, with its battle-field. The southern range 
of hills is called CEta. Between the foot of these mountains and the bay, 



24 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

is a narrow defile, that forms the only natural communication between 
Thessaly and central Greece. This is the celebrated pass of Ther- 
mopyla". Central Greece, or Hellas, traversed by branches of the Oiltian 
range, is divided into eight small and independent states. The most im- 
portant among them are, Attica, a hilly country, rich in olives, figs, and 
honey, with its chief city, Athens, its seaport, Piras'us, and the battle-field 
of Miirathon. Opposite Athens lie the two islands, JEgi'na and Salamis ; 
the first renowned for its early cultivation, its trade and navigation ; the 
latter, for the naval engagement during the Persian war. Bceotia, a fer- 
tile corn-producing country, with its seven-gated capital, Thebes; the 
heroic Platte'a, and the renowned battle-fields of Leuctra and Choaronea. 
Phocis, with the hills of Helicon and Parnassus, renowned as the seats 
of the Muses. At the foot of the latter, in a spot that was looked upon 
as the centre of the earth, lay the sacred temple city of Delphi, with its 
celebrated oracle, and numerous magnificent buildings. 

Peloponnesus (at present jMorea) is connected with Central Greece 
by the isthmus of Corinth. This peninsula is surrounded on four of its 
sides by the sea, and is an entirely mountainous country. In its centre 
is situated the rude region of Arcadia, with its beautiful valleys and fer- 
tile pastures inhabited by a hardy race of shepherds. Mantinea and 
Megalopolis, founded by Epaminondas, are among the most celebrated 
of its towns. In the north of the peninsula, on the shores of the Cor- 
inthian gulf, lies Achara, with its twelve cities, which were united together 
in the third century by the celebrated Achaian league. Sicyon, and the 
rich and art-loving Corinth, were also joined in this confederation. To 
the East was Argolis, a rocky region abounding in bays and creeks, with 
its chief city, Argos ; Mycene, the ancient royal seat of Agamemnon and 
Tirynthus, in the neighborhood of which were to be found the remains 
of gigantic buildings (Cyclopean walls). To the south lay the rugged 
Laconia, or Laceda^monia, with the mountain of Taygetus, and a few fer- 
tile plains in the valley of the Eurdtas ; near this was the renowned city 
of Sparta, with about 60,000 inhabitants. Westward from Lacedie'mon 
extended to the sea-coast the fruitful region of Messenia, with the for- 
tress Ithome, and the maritime city Pylos : northward from this lay Elis, 
the territory of which was regarded as sacred, and, in consequence, was 
never visited with war, together with the city and plain of Olympia, ren- 
dered famous by the Olympian games. 

h. THE GREEK ISLANDS. 

§ 33. To the east and west of Greece lay a multitude of large and 
small islands, which are of the greatest importance in Greek history. 
They were almost all remarkable for their fertility in wine, oil, fruits, 
and similar productions; carried on an extensive trade, and possessed 
even at an early period a high amount of civilization. The most remark- 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 25 

able among tliem are, on the west, Corcyra, (at present Corfu), renowned 
even in the earliest ages for its wealth and culture, and where, at a later 
period, the Corinthians founded a colony ; and the stony Ithaca, the 
dwelling-place of Ulysses. In the southern sea, the large island of Crete, 
which in the time of Homer, numbered a hundred cities, but which v.-as 
dreaded and infamous on account of its piracy ; Cyprus and Cythera, 
celebrated for the worship of Venus ; and Rhodes, renowned for the 
casting of metals, and for its statue of the god of the sun (Colossus), 
seventy cubits in height. But the sea the most rich in large and small 
islands is the ^gean on the east, which for this reason has given its 
name — Archipelago — to every sea abounding in islands. Off the east- 
ern coast of Greece, and only divided from it by the narrow channel 
Euripus, lies the long and fertile island Euboe'a (Negropont), with the 
maritime and commercial cities Eretria and Chalcis. Farther eastward, 
we meet with Lemnos, Thasos, Imbros, and Samothrace, the anciently 
renowned localities of mysterious religious customs. The group of islands 
lying nearest the east coast of Peloponnesus, are called Cyclades, because 
they lie in a circle (Cyclos). Among them are Delos, the sacred birth- 
place of Apollo and Diana; Paros, celebrated for its marble ; and Naxos, 
for its wine. Eastward from these we encounter a number of scattered 
islands, the Spdrades. The most important, both on account of their size 
and fertility, and the wealth and civilization of their inhabitants, are the 
islands lying off the coast of Asia Minor, — Lesbos, with its flourishing 
town Mitylene, Chios, Samos, Cos, and others. Lastly, the rocky island 
of Patmos, celebrated as the residence of the Evangelist, St. John. 

II. RELIGION OF THE GREEKS. 

§ 34. Nowhere did the heathen worship of idols assume a more cheer- 
ful aspect than among the Greeks, a great part of whose mythology was 
afterwards adopted by the Romans and incorporated with their own 
religious system. According to the I'eligious views taken by the Greeks, 
the world was originally a rude and formless mass (chaos), from which 
the heaven and earth separated themselves as independent divinities. 
The earth, after this, produced beings of superhuman stature and strength, 
the Titans, who were possessed of the supreme authority, until a more spirit- 
ual race arose, w^ho gathered themselves around the king of heaven, Zeus^ 
or Jupiter, deprived them of their power, overcame the giants and Titans 
who attempted to storm the skies, and buried them in the abysses of the 
earth. After the unruly forces of nature and the power of the elements 
had been thus subdued, Zeus erected his throne upon Olympus, whilst 
Pluto governed the gloomy regions of the subterranean world, (Hades, 
Tartarus, Orcus), and Poseidon (Neptune), \vith his tndent, ruled the 
sea. Hera or Juno, the queen of heaven, the virgin Pallas Athene 
(Minerva), armed with helm and shield, the protectress of the liberal arts, 

3 



26 THE ANCIENT AVORLD. 

and of all intellectual employment, Apollo, tlie glorious god of liglit, 
and some others, were the objects of similar veneration. Besides these, 
woods and mountains, fields and meadows, rivers and lakes, were inha- 
bited by an innumerable multitude of divine beings, — nymphs, nereids, 
tritons, sirens who with their magic songs allured men to destruction, and 
many others that frequently interfered in human affairs. An heroic race, 
that derived its origin from Zeus, was the connecting link between gods 
and men ; whilst the interval between men and the animal tribes was 
tilled up by an inferior race of fauns and satyrs, who united together 
liuman and bestial qualities. Human life and this world of divinities 
were supposed to be most intimately related with each other. From the 
moment of his birth, a guardian spirit (genius, demon) stood by the side 
of every man for his Avhole life, and exercised an influence upon his 
resolutions and actions, without however interfering with the freedom of 
his will. The household hearth was the residence of sacred domestic and 
family deities (Lares, Penates), who preserved the dwelling from evil: 
and every important event of life was under the guardianship of a sepa- 
rate divinity. In opposition to the Christian view, which looks upon the 
life of this world as a state of probation, and of transition to a higher 
form of existence, the joyous Greeks referred all their pleasures to the 
earthly life, and looked upon the shadowy existence of the subterranean 
world as but its melancholy continuation. They nevertheless believed in 
rewards and punishments, and in a state of immortal existence. The 
departed were brought by Hermes (Mercury), the conductor of the dead, 
before the three judges of the lower world, and, according to their deci 
sion, they were either sent to the residence of the righteous (Elysium, the 
happy islands), or to the place of condemnation (Tartarus). Many 
sacrifices were offered on the graves by the survivors to the souls or 
shadows (manes) of the departed. This free and beautiful system of 
mythology is displayed in the most perfect productions of Greek art and 
poetry. 



I. GREECE BEFORE THE PERSIAN WAR. 

I. THE TIME OF THE TROJAN "WAR. 

§ 35. The Pelasgi are believed to have been the most ancient inhabit- 
ants of Greece. They were an agricultural and peaceful people, with a 
religion that was founded upon the veneration of nature, and in which 
the earth-mother Demcter (Ceres), the wine-producer Dionysus (Bac- 
chus), and the oracle-giving nature-god, Zeus of Dodona in Epi'rus, were 
the divinities that enjoyed the greatest reverence. This religion of 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 27 

nature, together with the remains of a primeval architecture, towns and 
royal cities, and especially the imperishable Cyclopean walls in Pelopon- 
nesus, which are built of squared stones fitted together without cement, 
leads to the opinion that the Pelasgi bore a resemblance, in their culture 
and religious institutions, to the people of the East ; and that, conse- 
quently, intercourse must have existed at an early period between 
Greece, Asia, and Egypt. This view receives corroboration from the 
legends respecting oriental colonists, who settled in Greece and diffused 
the seeds of civilization at an inconceivably remote period. In the same 
way, Cecrops the Egyptian came to Attica, the Phoenician Cadmus to 
Boedtia, the Phrygian Pelops to the peninsula, named after him, Pelo- 
ponnesus. 

§ 36. The Pelasgi were either driven out or subjugated by the war- 
like Hellenes, who gradually subjected the whole of Greece to their 
power. These Hellenes are divided into three tribes: the Doi'ians, in 
Peloponnesus ; the lonians, in Attica and the islands ; and the -^dlians, 
in Boedtia and the other states. They distinguished themselves at an 
early period by great warlike achievements, and by founding cities and 
foreign colonies. It is in the poetical legends of the twelve labors of 
Hercules, of the voyage of the Athenian hero Theseus to the sea-ruling 
Crete, and of the daring Argonautic expedition, that the first traces of 
historical facts are preserved, distorted and obscured, as they may be, by 
a mass of fables. The Thessalian Jason, with the most renowned heroes 
of his time, (Hercules, Theseus, Castor and Pollux from Lacedffi'mon, 
and the Thracian musician Orpheus), undertook the Argonautic expedi- 
tion, in the ship Argo, to the distant land of Colchis, on the east coast of 
the Black Sea, for the purpose of obtaining the golden fleece, which, as 
the legend reported, Phryxus, the son of the Thessalian king, had years 
before suspended there, and which was watched over by a sleepless 
dragon. This Phryxus and his sister Helle had a wicked step-mother, 
who entertained designs against the lives of the two children. Their 
departed mother, Nephele, the goddess of clouds, appeared to her two 
children, and presented them witli a wonderful ram, which conveyed 
them across the sea ; Helle, however, fell off", and was drowned at the spot 
which has received from her the name of the Hellespont. Phryxus 
reached the land and sacrificed the ram. Jason and his companions 
reached Colchis after a difficult voyage, completed their undertaking by 
the aid of the sorceress Medea, daughter of the king of the country, and 
returned home with their spoil. But the Argonauts had many wonder- 
ful adventures and perils to encounter on their return through the ocean 
and the mysterious river Eridanus, which formed the materials of many 
a poetical legend. The early commercial intercourse between the Eolie 
race and the inhabitants of the distant Asiatic coast, appears to be sym- 
bolized by this history of the Argonautic expedition. 



28 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

§ 37. The greatest event of the Greek heroic age is the celebrated 
Trojan war. In Ilium, or Troy, on the north-west coast of 

B. C. 1184. -I J ^ 

Asia Minor, reigned King Priamus over a rich and cultivated 
people. His youngest son, Paris, carried oif Helen, wife of the Lacedae- 
monian king, Menelaus, who had hospitably received him. The injured 
husband summoned the princes of Greece to undertake an expedition to 
revenge the affront. This expedition shortly after took place under the 
command of Agamemnon of Mycena?, brother of Menelaus, and with the 
assistance of the most renowned warriors of Greece. Achilles and his 
friend Patrdclus from Thessaly, the subtle Ulysses from Ithaca, Dio- 
medes from Argos, the sage Nestor from Pylos, Ajax, and many others 
Avere among the number. The army, having embarked in a vast fleet, 
sailed for the Asiatic coast from the seaport town of Aulis, where 
Agamemnon had devoted his daughter as a sacrifice to Diana. They 
found, however, the Trojans, especially Hector, son of Priam, and ^-Eneas, 
such valiant opponents, that it was only after a ten years' struggle that 
the city was at length taken and destroyed, by an artifice of Ulysses (a 
wooden horse filled with armed men). Priam and most of his subjects 
fell either in battle or at the destruction of the city ; the rest were car- 
ried away as slaves. But the victors also suffered many misfortunes. 
Achilles, Patrdclus, and many others found an early grave in Ilium. 
Agamemnon, after a troublesome voyage home, was murdered at the 
instigation of his faithless wife Clytemnestra ; and Ulysses, tossed by 
tempests, wandered for ten years to inhospitable shores, over islands and 
seas, before it was permitted him again to see his faithful wife Penelope 
and his son Telemachus, and to purge his house of the audacious suitors 
who were contending for the hand of his spouse, and who in the mean 
while were feasting themselves upon his property. 

§ 38. Homer. — The Trojan war is of more importance to poetry and 
art than to history, since the combats of the heroes, and their adventures 
and wanderings on their return home, foi'med two legendary cycles, 
from which the materials of heroic or epic poetry have usually been 
selected. The first and greatest poet, who has employed these legends 
in the construction of an immortal work, was Homer, who, according to 
tradition, was a blind singer, whose life was so obscure that, even in 
ancient times, seven cities contended for the honor of having given him 
birth. The two great heroic poems, that pass under his name, are 
the Iliad, in which the battles that took place before Troy in the 
last year of the siege are described, and the Odyssea, in which are 
sung the fate and adventures of Ulysses and his companions, on and 
around Sicily in the western sea. Even a mock hei'oic poem, Batra- 
chomyomachia, in which the combats of frogs and mice are described in 
the same manner as those of the Grecian and Trojan heroes, has been 
attributed to him. But as, at that time, the art of writing was unknown 



HISTORY OP GREECE. 29 

in Greece,* these poems were at first circulated from mouth to mouth, 
and portions of them were committed to memory and recited by wander- 
ing singers (Rhapsodists). Even at a later period, when they had been 
collected and reduced to writing, they were still impressed upon the 
memory of young people, and employed as a means of exciting patriot- 
ism, religion, and a feeling for the beautiful. As Homer was the chief 
of a school of poets in Asia Minor, who, under the name of Homerides, 
continued for some centuries to compose poetry in a similar spirit to their 
master, so Hesiod, about a hundred years later, became the founder of 
an ^olic school of poetry, that flourished more especially in Boeotia. 
We still possess an epic poem of Hesiod on the origin and fate of the 
Grecian deities (Thedgony), and a didactic poem, the " Works and 
Days." The hexameter measure derived from Homer was, from this 
time, made use of in epic poetry. 

§ 39. Shortly after the Trojan war, great disturbances and political 
revolutions took place in Greece. New races of men drove the old ones 
from the possessions they had hitherto occupied; these, in their turn, 
attacked other tribes, till at length the weaker resolved to expatriate 
themselves, and to found transmarine colonies. The most important in 
its consequences of these emigrations, was that undertaken 
by the Dorians to Peloponnesus, under the conduct of the 
descendants of Hercules (hence called the return of the Herach'die). 
This event entirely changed the fate of Peloponnesus, by giving the com- 
mand of the peninsula to the hardy mountaineers of Doria, instead of the 
Ionic population that had hitherto possessed it. The Dorians gradually 
subdued Argolis, Lacdnia, Messenia, Sicyon, Corinth, and Megaris beyond 
the isthmus. They even made an irruption into Attica, and 
threatened Athens, but were compelled to a retreat by Co- 
drus, the Athenian king, offering his life in sacrifice for his country. An 
oracle had declared that victory would incline to the side of those whose 
king should fall. When the Ddrians heard this, they gave the strictest 
commands that no injury should be done to Codrus. But this king, dis- 
guising himself as a peasant, commenced a quarrel before the gates with 
the outposts, and was killed without being recognized. The Ddrians, 
despairing of victory, immediately retreated from Athens. 

The old inhabitants of Peloponnesus experienced a triple fate. The 
boldest and strongest quitted their country, and established the Ionian 
colonies on the western shores of Asia Minor, and the islands of Chios, 
Lesbos, Samos, &;c. These colonies, by the fruitfulness of their soil, their 
navigation, their trade, and their diligence in business, soon attained a 

* This is too sweeping an assertion. The art of wi-iting was certamly practised in 
Egypt long before Homer's day; and the Greeks could hardly have been ignorant of it, 
though the Homeric poems may not have been reduced to writing for a century or two 
after they were composed. Am. Ed. 

3* 



30 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

degree of prosperity and civilization that far surpassed that of the mother 
country. Those that remained behind either submitted freely to the 
Dorians, in which case they were compelled to pay tribute, and were 
excluded from all participation in the government, but were permitted to 
retain their possessions, or they were subdued with weapons in their 
hands, by force of arms ; in the latter case, they were reduced to th§ con- 
dition of serfs or slaves. The first class were called Periaj'ci, or Lacede- 
monians, to distinguish them from the Doric Spartans ; the second class 
Avere styled Helots. 

§ 40. Colonies. — In process of time, the Ionian colonies united 
themselves into a confederacy, consisting of twelve commonwealths, 
among which Miletus, Ephesus with the celebrated temple of Diana, and 
Smyrna, were the most powerful. The affairs of the union were debated 
in a temple on the promontory of Mycale. The twelve colonial towns of 
the Cohans to the north of Ionia, and the six Dorian towns on the south, 
possessed similar arrangements. Among the latter, the town of Ilalicar- 
nassus, the birthplace of the historian Herodotus, is the most remarkable. 
The island of Rhodes also belonged to the latter union. The shores of 
the Hellespont (Dardanelles), of the Propontis (sea of Marmora), of the 
Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea), were covered in a similar manner with 
Greek colonies. The most important were Byzantium (Constantinople), 
Sinope, Cerasuh (the native land of cherries), and Trapezus. Flourishing 
colonies were also to be found on the coasts of Thrace and Macedonia ; 
viz. Abdera, Ampln'polis, Olynthus, &c. In Lower Italy, the number of 
Greek colonial towns was so great, that the inhabitants of the interior 
spoke Greek, and the whole country was known by the name of Great 
Greece. The most celebrated of these towns were Tarentum, the wealthy 
and luxurious Sybaris, and the ancient Cumge, the parent city of Naples. 
The greater part of the beautiful island of Sicily was in possession of 
the Greeks, who founded numerous opulent cities there, but none of 
which, in point of size, i)ower, and civilization, could compare with Syra- 
cuse. On the north coast of Africa, Cyrene rivalled Carthage in wealth 
and commerce ; and in South Gaul, Massilia was a model of civil order, 
and a seminary of cultivation to the rude population in its neighborhood. 
All these towns carried on a flourishing trade in the productions of art and 
the produce of the soil. Their vicinities were covered with beautiful 
buildings, and adorned for miles with villas and summer-houses. They 
exercised a salutary influence on the manners and culture of the natives, 
but degenerated in course of time, when wealth and refinement intro- 
duced luxury, sensuality, and effeminacy. The colonial cities occupied 
the position of blood relations to the mother state, but were entirely 
free and independent. They retained the manners and religious customs 
of the parent city, and honored it with filial piety ; but they entered 
into no dependent relations with it, like the colonies of the Romans, 
or those of modern times. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 31 

II. THE PERIOD OF THE WISE MEN AND LAWGIVEKS. 
a. GENERAL VIEW. 

§ 41. Greece never formed a united state, but was separated into a 
number of independent communities, among which the most powerful 
exercised from time to time a predominant influence. Sparta, Athens, 
and Thebes, ruled for the most part. But language, manners, and reli- 
gious institulions united the different tribes into a single nation. Tliey 
called themselves Hellenes, — all other people they included under the 
general term of barbarians. The Greeks, a people full of talent, and 
eminently capable of civilization, arrived at a degree of culture that has 
never since been equalled. Love of freedom, and a masculine energy, 
led them to establish a number of independent republics, to which, at 
first, they attached themselves with enthusiastic patriotism, and in defence 
of which they poured forth their heart's blood, till the rage of faction had 
choked the more generous feelings. Activity and diligence produced 
general prosperity, and a beautiful land under a sky of unvarying bright- 
ness, with a healthy and happy climate, engendered cheerfulness of mind, 
and made existence a pleasure. Simplicity of life lessened the number 
of the wants, and the frugal use of what a fruitful soil and'a happily 
situated country produced with but little labor, banished the cares and 
anxieties of life, and permitted every one to enjoy the pleasures afforded 
by poetry, art, and the sciences. 

§ 42. Certain institutions and establishments connected with religion 
were common to all the Greek races. The first among these was the 
ancient Amphictyonic Council, a court of arbitration to which twelve 
states sent their deputies, and the office of which was to defend the 
national sanctuary at Delphi, and to prevent the wars that broke out be- 
tween single states from becoming too cruel and destructive. It was 
also the defender of the Delphic oracle, with its rich temple. In all im- 
portant undertakings, the Delphic Apollo was consulted ; the response 
was given by the inspired priestess, Pythia, from her golden tripod, in 
obscure, and frequently ambiguous and enigmatical expressions. The 
temple of Delphi possessed extensive territories, and rich treasures in 
gifts and offerings. The celebration of numerous games, as the Pythian 
(at Delphi), the Isthmian, Nemaian, &c., was a third bond to connect 
together the various states and families of Greece. None of these games, 
however, were so renowned as the Olympic, which, from the time 776 
B. c, were celebrated every fourth year, in the plain of Olympia, in Elis. 
They principally consisted in running, boxing, wrestling, throwing the 
discus or spear, and in chariot racing ; and the crown of olive branches, 
that was presented to the victor, was regarded as an enviable distinction 
that rendered illustrious, not the receiver only, but his whole family and 



32 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

his native dwelling-place. The works of artists, poets, and literary men 
Avere also objects of attention. There is even a tradition that Herodotus, 
the father of history, read the first book of his works at these games, and 
by so doing excited the emulation of Thucydides, the greatest of historical 
writers. The temple of the Olympian Jupiter, and the colossal sitting 
statue of this deity, which was overlaid with ivory and gold, were among 
the most splendid examples of Greek art. Pindar, of Thebes, the great 
lyric poet, celebrated the victors in these games in his immortal odes. 

h. LTCUEGUS THE SPARTAN LAWGIVER. 

§ 43. The manners of the Dorians gradually degenerated in their new 
possessions ; the affairs of the state fell into disorder, and an unwarlike 
spirit threatened to diffuse itself. To remedy these evils, 
E. c. 884. Lyciirgus, a patriotic Spartan of royal descent, determined 
to give his native city the preeminence over the other states, by re- 
storing and establishing the ancient institutions of the Ddrians. With 
this purpose, he visited the island of Crete, which was at this time cele- 
brated for its excellent laws ; made himself acquainted with the systems 
that prevailed there, and, on his return, gave the Spartans the remai'k- 
able constitution, of which the following are the chief outlines : — 

a. Institutions of State. — The whole power of government was 
in the hands of the Dorians, who, without engaging in any other occupa- 
tion, devoted themselves entirely to the exercise of arms, the conduct of 
war, and the affairs of the state. In the assemblies of the people, they 
elected the senators, or council of ancients, whose duty it was to conduct 
• the government and protect the laws ; and the five Ephori, who at first 
superintended the regulations of the city, but who afterwards obtained 
the greatest power of control over the public life and actions of those who 
were in office, and by this means gained such an authority for themselves, 
that even kings were subject to their tribunal. The senate consisted of 
twenty-eight members, of at least sixty years of age ; the presidency of 
this assembly devolved upon the two kings of Sparta, who were chosen 
from the race of the Heraclidte, and whose office was consequently heredi- 
tary. At home, they possessed more honor than power ; but in war, they 
were always the leaders, and had an unlimited command. The funda- 
mental principle of the whole constitution was the equality of property. 
In furtherance of this, the Avhole lands of Laconia were divided in such 
a way, that each of the 9,000 Spartan families received an equal portion. 
' These estates were indivisible, and descended to the eldest born by the 
law of primogeniture. The 30,000 families of Perice'ci were in a similar 
manner provided with lands of less extent, whilst the Helots were left 
uncared for, and were obliged, in their capacity of serfs, or day-laborers, 
to till the ground of the Dorians, and to deliver a certain proportion of 
the productions of the soil, in corn, wine, oil, and similar matters, to the 
Spartan magazines. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 33 

h. Mode of Life. — The rights of the Dorian depended less upon 
his birth than upon his education ; this, therefore, was entirely under- 
taken by the state. Weak and deformed children wei'e cast into a gulf 
immediately upon their birth ; the vigorous were removed from their 
parents at the age of six years, and educated in public. The great ob- 
ject of this education was to pi'oduce bodily hardihood; the gymnastic 
exercises of the pahestra were, for this reason, one of its most important 
branches. But the understanding was also cultivated, and the Spartan 
was not less celebrated for his craft and shrewdness, than for the terse 
brevity of his speech, which Avas afterwards distinguished by the term 
" laconic." The feelings and imagination were alone neglected, and con- 
sequently, science and poetry were neither esteemed nor cultivated in 
Sparta. Doric art was merely distinguished by vast strength ; not, like 
the Ionic, by grace and beauty. The male part of the population were 
divided, according to their ages, into companies, who dined together at 
public meals, (syssitia), fifteen usually sitting at one table. These meals 
were extremely temperate and simple, and were furnished from the sup- 
plies of the Helots. The so-called black broth and a vessel of wine were 
the chief features of the entertainment. The kings sat at the heads of 
their tables, and received a double portion. Luxury and effeminacy 
were by all means to be avoided ; for this reason, the houses were rude 
and devoid of convenience ; no instrument but the axe was permitted to 
be employed in their construction. Money was banished in ordinary 
intercourse, to the end that no one should possess the means of procuring 
unnecessary pleasures ; and that the Spartans should not learn and accus- 
tom themselves to these pleasures, they were not permitted to travel into 
foreign countries, nor were strangers allowed to make a long residence 
in Sparta. The chase, and the exercise of arms were the chief employ- 
ments of those who were grown up ; the cultivation of the ground was 
left to the Helots ; trade and business to the Perioe'ci. The whole life of 
the Spartan was a preparation for war. In the city, he lived as though 
he were in the camp, and the time of war was his time of joy and rejoic- 
ing. The Spartans marched into the field with purple mantles and long 
hair, and adorned themselves before battle as if for a festival. The 
strength of the army lay in the heavy-armed infantry (hoplites), which 
consisted of numerous divisions, and which was, in consequence, enabled 
to execute without confusion many movements and evolutions. The 
Spartan never retreated from his ranks ; he conquered or died in his 
place. Strict obedience, and subordination of the young to their elders, 
was the soul of the military education and discipline in Sparta, which 
was the true temple of honor of the age. 

§ 44. After these laws had been confirmed by the oracle of Delphi, 
Lycurgus caused the Spartans to take an oath that they would never 
alter any thing contained in them, till he came back from the journey he 



34 THE AXCIENT WORLD. 

was about to undertake. Upon this, he is said to have gone to Crete, 
and there to have died. The consequences of the laws of Lycurgus soon 
became apparent. Not only did the hardy Spartans overcome the kin- 
B. c. 743. dred race of the Messenians in two lengthened wars, but 
B. c. 724. they soon established their power over the whole Pelopon- 
nesus. The Messenians were reduced to pay tribute in the first of these 
wars, after their citadel, Ithome, had been destroyed, and their hero, 
Aristodemus, had slain "himself on the grave of his daughter whom he 
had sacrificed. The tyranny of the Spartans in a short time 
provoked the Messenians to a second war. In this, they at 
first obtained some advantages, by the heroic deeds of the brave and 
cunning Aristdmenes ; but the Spartans, inflamed by the war-songs of 
the Athenian poet, TyrtjBus, finally proved the victors. A part of the 
Messenians quitted their country, and founded Messina in the island of 
Sicily : those who remained were led into slavery, and condemned to the 
miserable fate of the Helots. 

C. SOLON, THE LAWGIVER OF THE ATHENIANS, B. C 600. 

§ 45. Whilst the Spartans, a race of steady and inflexible character, 
held fast for centuries the laws of Lycurgus, the lively and fickle Athe- 
nians introduced among themselves every possible form of government. 
After the glorious death of Codrus, (§ 39) the Athenians 
declared that no one was worthy to be his successor, and 
abolished the monarchy. Some one of the nobles (eupatrides), chosen 
for life to the office of archon, received the supreme power. At first, the 
family of Codrus had the preference in this election ; but as the govern- 
ment with time assumed more and more the form of an aristocratic 
republic, the office of archon was thrown open to the whole body of 
B. c. 752. nobles, and the period of its existence reduced to ten yeai's. 
B. c. 682. For the purpose of admitting a greater number to this honor, 
they at length adopted the expedient of electing nine archons every year, 
wlio were to superintend the government, the affairs of religion, military 
matters, legislation, and the administration of justice. The nobles now- 
held the power in their own hands, and excluded the people (demos) 
from all share in the government, or in the administration of the laws. 
They alone gave judgment, because they only were acquainted with the 
unwritten and traditionary statutes ; in this way, arbitrary decisions, par- 
tiality, and injustice, were of no unfrequent occurrence. This induced 
the citizens, in the assemblies of the people, to insist upon the framing of 
written laws. The nobles for a long time refused to accede to the 
demands of the people ; but when at length they found that further 
resistance was impossible, they determined upon a different method of 
Draco, oppressing the commons. They commissioned one of their 

B. c. C24. Q^vn number, Draco, surnamed the Cruel, to draw up a code 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 33 

of laws. These proved so severe, that they were said to be written in 
blood. Every offence was punished with death. By this means, the 
nobles hoped again to reduce the discontented people to their former state 
of dependence. Desperate struggles followed, and contention and party 
spirit rose to such a height, that the state was reduced to the verge of 
destruction. At this juncture, Solon, one of the seven wise men, and 
greatly esteemed both as a poet and a friend of the people, proved the 
savior of his country. He gave the state a new and republican form of 
government, in which the principal authority was vested in the assem- 
blies of the people. These assemblies made the laws, named the judges 
and officers of state, and elected the council of the four hundred ; that the 
nobility, however, might not be deprived of the whole of their power, he 
secured to them certain privileges : they alone could fill the office of 
archon, or sit in the high court of the Areopagus, which Solon had 
established to preserve the laws, the government, and public morals. 
This court consisted of the most respected citizens ; it superintended the 
education of youth, and kept an eye upon the lives of the burghers, to the 
end that morality and discipline might be preserved, and an honorable 
and industrious course of life be maintained ; and that luxury, riot, 
and extravagance in dress, might be banished. Solon, at the same time, 
relieved the necessities of the people by the so-called remission of bur- 
dens, by which the poorer citizens were freed from a portion of their 
debts, and restored to the unfettered enjoyment of their mortgaged 
estates. After Solon had completed these measures, he caused the 
Athenians to swear that they would make no alterations in them for the 
space of ten years : he then set forth on his travels to Asia and Egypt, 
in the coui'se of which he held the before-mentioned conversation (§ 27) 
with Croesus at Sardis. 

d. THE TYRANTS. 

§ 46. All the Grecian states had at first been governed by kings, who, 
as high priests, judges, and leaders of the army, exercised a patriarchal 
power. But the rich and distinguished class, who had hitherto stood by 
the side of the king as his councillors, gradually attained the upper hand, 
and seized the first favorable opportunity of ridding themselves of the 
monarch, and of establishing an aristocratic republic, in which they exer- 
cised the supreme power. This institution became, in time, extremely 
oppressive to the people. But as the nobles were in the exclusive pos- 
session of arms, and of the practice of war, it was no easy matter to 
deprive them of the government. This took place for the first time, 
when an ambitious noble separated himself from his order, and placed 
himself at the head of the people. But the rule of the aristocracy was 
not at once succeeded by a democratic government ; on the contrary, the 
leaders of the people (demagogues) seized in most of the states upon the 



36 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

supreme power. They were distinguished by the name of " tyrants ; " 
by which term, however, we are not always to understand a violent and 
arbitrary ruler, but merely one who unites in his own person all the 
functions of government, in a state that had previously been a republic. 
Many of these tyrants possessed great talents for their office, and ruled 
with splendid success. For the purpose of giving employment to the 
people to whom they were indebted for their rise, they erected magnifi- 
cent buildings ; their wealth gave them the means of attracting artists 
and poets, whilst their splendid courts contributed to the magnificence of 
the cities. But the government of the tyrants was not of long duration. 
The nobles neglected no means to effect their overthrow ; and in this 
they were supported by the Spartans, who were everywhere favorable 
to aristocratic institutions. Their sons, who had grown up in the en- 
joyment of power, frequently forgot the consideration they owed to 
the people, and hastened their own destruction by cruelty and des- 
potism. 

Periander, § 47. The most celebrated of the tyrants were Periander 

B. c. 600. of Corinth, Poiycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus of Athens. 
The first two are well known by poetical legends. Periander's friend, 
the singer Arion, once wished to return to Corinth by ship, from Lower 
Italy. The sailors, who were greedy after the treasures he had acquired 
in Tarentum, made attempts upon his life. When every hope of deliver- 
ance had vanished, Arion sang, and played some notes upon his harp, and 
then leaped into the waves. The dolphins, who had followed the ship, 
bore the singer to the shore. He hastened to Periander, at Corinth, who 
easily discovered and punished the offenders. Not less celebrated is the 
Polycrates, story of the ring of Polycrates. The rich and powerful 
B. c. 550. ruler of Samos was successful in every thing he undertook. 
At one time, when the king of Egypt was paying him a visit, messenger 
after messenger came to announce some fortunate event. Psammetichus 
appeared thoughtful, and warned his friend of tlie instability of fortune 
and the envy of the gods, and advised him to inflict some vexation upon 
himself to appease the irritated divinities. Upon this, Polycrates cast a 
costly and exquisitely wrought ring, upon which he placed a great value, 
from the roof of his house into the sea. But the gods despised the gift. 
On the following day, some fishermen brought a large fish to the palace, 
and, as the servants vi^ere preparing it for the table, they discovered the 
ring in its entrails. They presented it with joy to the tyrant ; but Psam- 
metichus saw in this the omen of approaching misfortune, and took a 
melancholy leave. Shortly after, Polycrates was taken prisoner by the 
Persians, and crucified. 

Pisistratas The most celebrated of all the tyrants was Pisistratus, of 

B. c. 560. Athens, who succeeded, even during the lifetime of Solon, in 
grasping the sole power. He contrived by dint of cunning, having first 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 37 

wounded himself, and then giving out that his life had been attempted, to 
procure a body-guard, and to obtain possession of the citadel. His ene- 
mies were indeed twice successful in banishing him from the city ; but he 
again returned, succeeded in establishing himself in the government, and 
bequeathed it at his death to his two sons, Hippias and Hipparchus. 
Pisistratus, and, at first, his son Hippias, ruled with much 

E C 527 i. r 7 

glory. Agriculture, trade, and commerce received a great 
impulse. The poems of Homer, that had hitherto only been delivered 
orally by the wandei'ing singers (rhapsodists), were now reduced to 
writing, and by this means preserved to posterity. Artists of every kind 
found in them liberal patrons. Athens was embellished with temples 
and public buildings, and the lyric poet, Anacreon, was a resident at 
Hi'ppias's court. But when Hipparchus, who was a man devoted to riot 
and the pleasures of the senses, had been killed at the panathenaic fes- 
tival, by two Athenians, Harmodius and Aristogiton, in revenge of some 
injury they had suffered from him, Hippias gave free scope to his violent 
disposition. By his severity and cruelty, he alienated the affections of 
the popular party, and by this means prepared the way for his own 
expulsion. He took refuge with the Persian king, Darius, and en- 
couraged him in his design of making war upon the Athenians. 
Shortly after his departure, the democratic republic was established in 
Athens. 

THE SEVEN VTISE :\IEX. PYTHAGORAS. 

§ 48. Periander of Corinth, and Solon of Athens, were numbered 
among the seven wise men ; of the remainder, Thales of Miletus, the 
founder of the Ionic school of philosophy, was the most renowned. Their 
principles and practical rules of life were embodied in short mottoes, as 
" Know thyself," "Avoid excess," " Consider the end," " Be watchful for 
opportunities," and numerous others. 

One of the most distinguished men of this period, who did not however 
call himself a wise man (sophos),but only a lover of wisdom (philosophos), 
was Pythagoras of Samos, the founder of the sect of the Pythagoreans, 
which had many adherents in Crotona and other towns of Lower Italy, 
and enjoyed great respect. The members of his sect led a life of tem- 
perance and severe morality, had their meals and exercises in common, 
and were devoted with the greatest veneration to their master. They 
practised themselves in mathematics, geometry, and music ; for Pytha- 
goras is known as the inventor of the theorem, which is named after 
him, the Pythagorean. 

e. LYRIC POETRY. 

§ 49. A cheerful mode of life prevailed at the courts of the tyrants, 
where singers and poets were welcome guests. The severe heroic poetry. 

4 



38 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

^va3 not suited to the pleasures and amusements that were there prin- 
cipally sought after, and its place was in consequence supplied by a 
lighter and less prolix kind, which was distinguished by the term lyric, 
because it was intended to be sung to the lute (lyra). All lyric poetry, 
therefore, originally consisted in cheerful songs, which exhorted to the 
enjoyment of life on account of the shortness of its duration, and were 
filled with the praises of love and wine, because they drove away care 
and trouble. In this style, Anacreon of Teos, in Ionia, who passed his 
life at different courts, and died in his eighty-fifth year, 
was the most celebrated ; and for this reason, these kind 
of songs are called Anacreontic. 

If the shortness of life, and the transitory character of every thing 
earthly, gave occasion to Anacreon to exhort to the enjoyment of exist- 
ence, there were not wanting others to whom these considerations were a 
source of melancholy and sorrow, and who poured forth their complaints 
over the instability and uncertainty of human happiness. This style was 
called the " elegiac," and was usually composed in a measure consisting 
of hexameters and pentameters united (disticha). The best known 
elegiac poets are Mimnermus of Colophon, and Simonides of Ceos. Those 
lyrical compositions that are distinguished by a more lofty feeling, and in 
which the poet sings with enthusiasm or passion of some sublime object, 

are called " odes." Sappho, of Lesbos, a poetess celebrated 

ij. c. 600. „ , , , 1 ,,-,...,, 

tor her amatory songs, and her voluntary death, distinguished 

herself in this style of composition. But the Theban, Pindar, was the 
first who gave to the ode its full perfection. At a later period, the term 
'* lyric " was applied to all the shorter specimens of poetry, even though 
they were not fitted to be sung to music. Thus satire, the object of which 
is to punish the vices and failings of men by ridicule, and by this means 
to bring about their instruction and improvement, is called " lyric 
poetry." 

B. c. TOO. Archilochos, of Paros, the discoverer of iambics, is named 

B. c. 600. as the first satiric poet ; at whose side, Alca3'us of Mitylene, 
the freedom-inspired opponent of the tyrants, occupies no unworthy 
place. In like manner, the short stories where animals are introduced 
acting and speaking (fables), and the object of which is the inculcation 
of some useful maxim or rule of life, are distinguished by the same term. 
JEsop, a Phrygian slave, whose history is involved in obscurity, and dis- 
figured by many fabulous stories, acquired a great renown in this sort of 
composition. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 39 



11. THE FLOURISHING PERIOD OF GREECE. 

I. THE PERSIAN WAR. 

§ 50. The Greek colonial cities, on the coasts of Asia Minor, had been 
brought by Cyrus under the Persian dominion. Accustomed to freedom, 
they bore this foreign yoke with the greatest reluctance ; but were unable 
to free themselves from it, because the principal Greeks, who were ap- 
pointed by the Persians to the office of prince, or tyi-ant, of the different 
towns, and who were consequently devoted to the court of Susa, knew 
well how to keep their countrymen in subjection. One of the most 
oowerful of these was Histios'us, prince of Miletus. He had accom- 
panied Darius in his expedition against the Scytl|ians, (§ 30), and had 
received, together with some other Greeks, the charge of guarding the 
bridires that had been thrown over the Danube. "When the news of the 
disasters of the Persians became known, Miltiades, the Athenian, advised 
that these bridges should be destroyed, and the king and his whole army 
given up to destruction. But Histia^'us opposed this project, and was 
afterwards rewarded by being invited to the Persian capital, and passing 
his life there in splendor and luxury. But no pleasures could extinguish 
his longing after his native country ; and when he found that he was so 
much mistrusted as not to be permitted to depart, he secretly instigated 
his relative, Aristagoras of Miletus, to stir up the discontented Greeks to 
rebellion, hoping by this means to gain an opportunity of returning. In a 
short time, Miletus and the other Greek towns were in arms. Sparta, 
and the other states of the mother country, were applied to for assistance ; 
but Athens only, who was afraid that Darius might again restore Hippias, 
who was residing at his court, and the small town of Eretria, in Eubce'a, 
sent a few ships. At first, the insurrection appeared successful. The 
Greeks took and burnt Sardis, the chief city of Asia Minor, upon which 
the revolt spread over the whole of Ionia. But fortune soon changed. 
Divisions among themselves, and the superior force of the enemy, occa- 
sioned the loss of a maritime engagement, and the capture and destruction 

of Miletus. Many of the Milesians were led into slavery ; 
B. c. 494. . . 

Aristagoras fled to the Thracians, where he met with his 

death ; Histias'us was taken prisoner and crucified. Ionia again fell 
under the dominion of the Persians, and Darius vowed a bloody ven- 
geance against the Athenians and Eretrians, for the assistance they had 
afforded the rebels. 

§ 51. Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius, sailed with a fleet and army 
along the coast of Thrace, towards Greece, whilst the Persian heralds 
demanded earth and water, the symbols of submission from the whole of 



•I 

\ 



40 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

tlie Greek cities. But the fleet was driven against the promontory of 
Athos by a storm, and the Thracians destroyed a part of the land force, 
so that Mardonius was compelled to lead back the remains of his army 
into Asia, without effecting his purpose. It fared no better with the 
heralds. JEgina, and the greater number of the islands indeed, presented 
the earth and water ; but when they made the same demands at Athens 
and Sparta, they were put to death by the inhabitants, in defiance of all 
the laws of nations. Darius, enraged at this insult, despatched a second 
fleet, under the command of Dates and Artaphernes. They sailed through 
the Archipelago, and reduced the islands of the Cyclades to submission, 
and afterwards landed at Euboe'a. Er^tria, after a gallant resistance, fell 
by treachery into the hands of the enemy, who razed the city to the 
ground, and sent away the inhabitants into Asia. The Persians mai'ched 
through the island, burning and destroying ; and at length, under the 
command of Hippias, landed on the coast of Attica, and encamped on the 
plain of Marathon. The Athenians sent in haste to the Spartans for 
assistance ; but these not appeai-ing at the proper time, in consequence of 
an ancient law of their religion, which forbade them to march to battle 
before a full moon, the Athenians, under the command of ten leaders, 
advanced upon the enemy. The most esteemed among these leaders was 
Miltiades, who had formerly served in the Persian army, and was 
thoroughly acquainted with its qualities and tactics. By his direction, 
10,000 Athenians, and 1,000 Platas'ans, attacked the army of Persians, 
of ten times their number, in a place unfavorable for cavalry, and gave 
them a complete overthrow in the battle of Marathon. The 

B C. 490. . 

victors gained a rich booty, and placed the fetters they dis- 
covered, and which were intended for themselves, on the bodies of their 
enemies. Great was the renown acquired by the Athenians, who here 
for the first time proved that they were worthy of the democratic free- 
dom they had lately introduced among themselves ; and centuries later, 
patriotic orators would excite the enthusiasm of the people, by calling 
to their remembrance the victory of Marathon. Hippias was one of the 
slain. 

§ 52. Miltiades, the savior of Greece, did not long enjoy his honors. 
He persuaded the Athenians to equip a fleet for the purpose of subduing 
the islands of the ^gean Sea, which had submitted to the Persians. 
But when the attempt upon the island of Paros miscarried, the people 
condemned him to pay the cost of the expedition, and to be cast into 
prison till the debt should be discharged. The sentence was carried into 
execution, and Miltiades died in prison of his wounds. Cimon, his son, 
paid the debt, and conferred an honorable burial upon his father. 

At that time, there lived in Athens two men of remarkable character, 
Aristi'des, surnamed the Just, and Themistocles. Both sought to render 
their country illustrious, but by different methods. Aristides would 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 41 

make use of no means that were not strictly just and honorable, nor con- 
sent to any measure that excited the scruples of his conscience. Themis- 
tocles was less scrupulous : he would regard nothing but the greatness 
and advantage of his native city, and not unfrequently had recourse to 
ai-tifice and deceit. Shrewder and more talented than his rival, Themis- 
tocles soon won a greater share of the popular esteem ; and to free him- 
self from a hinderance to his plans, he urged the banishment of the more 
honest Aristides by ostracism.* 

By this means, Themistocles became the sole leader of the Athenian 
republic, and he exerted the whole of his influence to obtain an increase 
of the fleet ; for it was only by this means that the Athenians could 
attain a superiority to the other states. A declaration of the Delphic 
oracle, that the safety of Athens depended upon its " wooden walls," was 
of great service to him in the execution of this project. 

§ 53. Darius died in the midst of vast preparations for a fresh inva- 
sion of Greece. But his successor, Xerxes, a man puffed up with pride 
and arrogance, pursued his father's designs of vengeance, and carried on 
his preparations on such a scale, that he collected an army of a million 
and a half of men, and a fleet of more than 12,000 large vessels. But 
this immense crowd of people of all nations and tongues, with habits and 
weapons of the most diversified character, and accustomed each to its 
own method of warfare, was rather a hindei-ance than an assistance to 
the enterprise. When Xerxes had completed his preparations, and with 
wonderful good fortune had quelled a revolt that broke out in Egypt, (a 
circumstance that contributed not a little to swell his confidence), he 
ordered his troops, with an enormous crowd of sutlers, beasts of burden, 
wagons, and dogs of chase, to defile for seven days and nights across the 
Hellespont, on two bridges of boats, and then to march through Thrace 
and Macedonia towards Thessaly, whilst his fleet coasted along the shore 
to supply the army with whatever it needed. To prevent his ships being 
wrecked on the pi'omontory of Athos, as in the first expedition, Xerxes 
separated the mountain from the mainland, by cutting a canal. Thessaly 
submitted without a blow. Boedtia, and a few of the smaller states, 
pusillanimously yielded earth and water ; and the threatening foe still 
marched on. At this juncture, Greece showed what union, courage, 
and patriotism are capable of effecting. The greater number of the 
states united in a confederacy, and placed themselves under the guid- 
ance of Sparta. 

* Ostracism was an arrangement by which any citizen who was so superior to his fel- 
lows in power, influence, authority, or other qualities, as to endanger the civic equality, 
or the democratic constitution of the state, miglit be banished for a term (usually ten) 
of years. 

The term was derived from the Greek word for the shell (ostracon) on which the name 
of the accused citizen was written. — Trans. 

4* 



42 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

It was in July, just at tlie time of the celebration of the Olympic 
2;ames, that Xerxes arrived at the narrow pass of Ther- 

B. C. 480. to J L 

m6pyla3, which Leonidas had occupied with three hundred 
Spartans and a few thousands of the allies. It was in vain that the Per- 
sian king attempted for several days to force a passage ; thousands of his 
troops fell beneath the swords of the brave Greeks ; even the 10,000 Im- 
mortals, as they were called, the flower of the Persian army, were com- 
pelled to yield to the Spartan valor. At length, a traitorous Greek 
conducted a part of the Persians by a footpath over the summit of the 
mountain Q5ta, who attacked the rear of the Gi'eeks. Upon receiving 
intelligence of this, Lednidas dismissed the troops of the allies. He 
himself, with his 300 Spartans, and about 700 of the citizens of Thespia, 
who united themselves to him, devoted themselves to an heroic death for 
their country. Surrounded on all sides, they fought like lions, till, over- 
powered by numbers, and wearied with slaughter and contest, they sunk 
to the earth. Leonidas and his heroic band lived long in song, and a monu- 
ment pointed out to the traveller the spot where they fell. The Persians 
now subjected Boedtia without opposition, pursued their devastating 
course into Attica, and reduced Athens to ashes. The old warriors who 
defended the city were slaughtered. The citizens who were fit to bear 
arms were serving in the fleet. The women and children, together with 
their effects, had been sent, by the advice of Themistocles, to ^gina,, 
Salamis, and Trazce'ne. 

§ 54. Themistocles now became the savior of Greece. The united 
fleet of the Greeks had sailed from the promontory of Artemisium, where 
it had been for some days successfully engaged, into the Saronic gulf, 
whither it was followed by the Persians. It was here that Themistocles, 
by his prudence, rendei*ed abortive the ruinous design of the Spartan 
admiral, Eurybiades, of separating himself with the Peloponnesian fleet 
and deciding the battle in the Corinthian Gulf, by craftily jjrovoking the 
Persian king to a sudden attack in the narrow channel, where the enemy's 
fleet was embarrassed by its own magnitude. Thus originated the sea- 
fight of Salamis, in which the Greeks obtained a complete 
victory. Xerxes gazed in despair from a neighboring emi- 
nence on the destruction of his fleet, and then commenced a hasty retreat, 
with a portion of his army, through Thessaly, Macedon, and Thrace, 
during which he lost some thousands of his soldiers from cold, hunger, 
and fatigue. 

§ 55. Xerxes on his retreat left 300,000 of his best troops behind him 
in Thessaly. These marched again into Attica, in the following spring, 
and compelled the Athenians, who had returned home, once more to dis- 
perse themselves. But the Greeks, under the conduct of the Spartan 
Pausanias, lieutenant of the Athenian general, Aristides, obtained so 
signal a victory in the great battle of Platai'a, over a force of three times 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 43 

their number, that only 40,000 of the Persians saved themselves across 
the Hellespont. The remainder, with their leader, were slain, either in 
battle, in the storming of their camp, or in the flight. The booty was 
enormous. On the same day, the Persians suffered a decisive defeat at 
the promontory of Mycale, in Asia Minor, from the Greeks on board the 
fleet. In this case, also, a Spartan was the leader ; but it was the Athe- 
nians and Milesians who bore off the prize of valor. The fleet and camp 
of the enemy were taken and destroyed. The slaughter among the 
broken and flying crowd was frightful. Valor triumphed over strength, 
and the truth, that patriotism and love of freedom can bear away the 
victory from superior numbers, received a splendid confirmation in the 
glorious triumph of the Greeks over the Persians. Ten years after- 
wards, the double victory of Cimon on the river Eurymedon, 

B C 469 

over the fleet and army of the Persians, brought the war to 
a temporary conclusion. The peace of Cimon freed the whole of the 
Greek cities from the Persian yoke. 

THE SUPREMACY OP ATHENS, AND THE AGE OP PERICLES. 

§ 56. After the battle of Plataj'a, the war was principally carried op 
at sea. As the Spartans possessed but few ships, the command had 
gradually fallen into the hands of the Athenians, who, moreover, during 
the whole war, had displayed the greatest courage and magnanimity. 
The supremacy of the Athenians was also forwarded by the treachery 
of the Spartan general Pausanias. Pausanias, at the taking of Byzan- 
tium, had made prisoners of some illustrious Persians. He sent these 
without any ransom to Xerxes, with the message, that " He would assist 
him in subduing the Greeks, if Xerxes would give him his daughter in 
marriage, and make him governor of Peloponnesus." When the Persian 
king acceded to these terms, the vain and ambitious man became so inso- 
lent, as entirely to neglect the Spartan laws and manner of living ; he 
clothed himself in costly garments, maintained a luxurious table, and was 
waited on and accompanied by a band of Persian guards. At the same 
time, he rendered the Lacedtemdnian rule universally odious by his im- 
perious behavior. The Spartans, when made acquainted with this con- 
duct, recalled their faithless general ; but their authority in maritime 
affairs was already so much weakened, that they voluntarily renounced 
the command. Pausanias, even in Sparta, kept up a private correspond- 
ence with the king of Persia. But this treachery being exposed by 
means of a slave, he perished of hunger in a temple in which he had 
taken refuge. 

§ 57. Whilst Pausanias was thus weakening the power of his native 
city, the three Athenian generals, by their various capacities and talents, 
were instrumental in raising that of their own. Themistocles, by dint 
of wisdom and cunning, succeeded in getting Athens surrounded by a 



44 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

strong wall, and in founding the admirable harbor of Piraa'us, which 
Cimon and Pericles afterwards connected with Athens, by means of a 
long double wall. By this undertaking, Themi'stocles incui-red the impla- 
cable hate of the Spartans, who were very aver'se to the fortification of 
Athens, and who, for this reason, attempted at a later period to implicate 
him in the treachery of Pausdnias. This happened at a time when his 
enemies in Athens had succeeded in getting the ambitious man 
banished by ostracism, for a term of ten years. Persecuted 
in this way, the great general tied, in the midst of innumerable dangers, 
to Asia, where he was honorably received by the Persian king, and had 
the revenues of three cities of Asia Minor allotted to him for his support. 
But when the king wanted his assistance in the subjection of Greece, 
he is said to have swallowed poison rather than prove a traitor to his 
country. 

As Themi'stocles by prudence, so Aristides by justice, aided the inte- 
rests of his native city. The perfect confidence that was placed in his 
character and opinions, induced the islands and maritime cities to enter 
into alliance with the Athenians, and to pledge themselves to a supply 
of ships and money for the continuation of the war. The treasury of 
the confederacy, which was established in Delos for this purpose, was 
intrusted to the management of Aristides, and the command of the united 
fleet was also given to an Athenian. The supply of ships soon became 
burdensome to the smaller states, and they were glad to compromise for 
their delivery, by the payment of an additional sum of money. This 
gave the Athenians the opportunity they so much wished for, 'of increas- 
ino- their fleet, of subjecting the smaller maritime states, and treating 
them as tributary vassals. Aristides died so poor, that the state was 
obliged to defray the expenses of his burial, and to provide for the 
establishing of his children. 

§ 58. Cimon, the son of Miltiades, and Pericles, were not less instru- 
mental in the aggrandizement of Athens. The first rendered many 
services to his country by successful expeditions at sea, and gained 
the people by his affability and generosity. He enlarged tlie terri- 
tory of Athens, and employed his vast wealth in the embellishment 
of the city, where he established the beautiful gardens called the 
Academy. 

During his time, Sparta was visited by a fearful earthquake. The 
greater part of the principal city was destroyed, and, to increase the 
calamity, the Helots and Messenians seized their arms for 
the purpose of regaining their freedom. In their disti'ess, 
the Spartans turned to Athens for assistance, and by the influence of 
Cimon, an army was despatched to their aid. But the suspicious Spar- 
tans sent it back again, a proceeding which so offended the Athenians, 
that they banished Cimon by the ostracism ; and when the Messenians, 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 45 

after a contest of ten years, were compelled to surrender their citadel, 
Ithome, they gave up the seaport town, Naupactus, to them for a resi- 
dence. Cimon died, much respected, in Cyprus, B. c. 449. 

Pericles, a soldier and statesman, distinguished by great talents, culti- 
vation, and eloquence, exercised during his life such an influence on the 
state and people of Athens, that the years of his rule were distinguished 
as " the age of Pericles." This period includes the time when Athens 
had attained its highest point of refinement at home, and possessed the 
greatest power abroad. Pei-icles adorned Athens by the erection of tem- 
ples and magnificent buildings ; he encouraged the arts and sciences, he 
invited men of genius, and in particular the great artist, Phidias, to his 
hospitable court. He gave to every one the means and opportunity of 
educating and distinguishing himself, and produced by these means a 
taste for art, literature, and poetry, even among the lowest classes of the 
people. Though descended from a rich and illustrious family, he v/as 
nevertheless a man of the people, and devoted to democratic principles. 
He passed a law, by which every Athenian citizen who sat in judgment, 
or was present at an assembly of the people, or served in the fleet or 
army, was entitled to a stipend. He distributed large alms to the neces- 
sitous, he instituted magnificent festivals, plays, and processions, for the 
gratification of the sight-loving people. By his exertions, the Athenian 
state attained such an exalted state of cultivation, that the citizens were 
almost all equally well fitted to fill offices or discharge business ; so that 
the regulation, that the greater part of the public offices should be filled 
by lot, was attended with less inconvenience at Athens, than such arrange- 
ment would have produced at any other place. At the same time, Athens, 
by means of Pericles, attained the greatest renown abroad. Her ships 
ruled over the ^gean sea, and compelled the islanders to pay tribute, 
by which means enormous sums of money flowed into her treasury. The 
statue of Minerva was covered with a robe of solid gold ; the Athenian 
armies engaged in successful conflicts with the Thebans and 

B, C. 447. 

Spartans, till the unfortunate battle of Chaeronea put an end 
to their military glory. After this engagement, in which the Athenians 
were either killed or taken prisoners, Pericles was obliged to save Athens 
from the destruction by which it was threatened, by concluding the peace, 
named after him "the peace of Pericles." 

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, B. C. 431-404. 

§ 59. The peace of Pericles was of short duration. The prosperity 
of the Athenians filled the Spartans with envy and malevolence ; and 
the insolence and severity with which they treated their subjected allies, 
more particularly the inhabitants of ^gina, who had only submitted 
after a long struggle, excited hatred and disgust. In a short time, 
two armed and hostile powers stood opposed to each other : the Athenian 



46 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

confederation, wliich included most of the islands and maritime towns, 
and Avhich was favored by the democratic party in all the states, and the 
chief strength of which lay in its fleet ; and the Peloponnesian alliance, 
with Sparta at its head, to which the Doric and the greater part of the 
^olian states (Bcedtia and others) attached themselves, and which 
reposed its confidence on a gallant ai'my. The Spartans declined for 
a long time to commence hostilities. But when the Corinthians com- 
plained that Athens had violated the peace by assisting the island of 
Corcyra in its war against the mother country, Corinth, and had laid 
siege to the Corinthian colony, Potidas'a, in Macedon, the Peloponnesian 
war, which, for a period of twenty-seven years, ravaged Greece in the 
most frightful manner, at length broke out. 

§ 60. As soon as war was declared, a Spartan army marched into 
Attica, and devastated the country. Upon this, Pei-icles summoned the 
inhabitants of the country into the town, fitted out a fleet, and, landing 
on the coast of Peloponnesus, commenced repi'isals. These were con- 
tinued for some time, till at length a plague broke out in 
B. c. 429. . ' D r » 

Athens, in consequence of the overcrowded state of the city, 
swept away many thousands of the inhabitants, and finally carried Peri- 
cles himself to the grave, after he had witnessed the death of his three 
sons. The death of this great man was a heavy loss to Athens : for now 
a crowd of selfish demagogues, and among them, Cleon, a tanner, obtained 
great influence, seduced tlie people by flattery, and strove to prolong the 
war. Weakened by their own divisions, the Athenians were compelled 
to look on, whilst the Platas'ans, their most faithful allies, were subdued, 
after an heroic struggle, by the Lacedaemonians and Bojotians : Platas'a 
itself was levelled with the earth, the citizens who were capable of 
bearing arms were put to the sword, and their wives and children led 
into slavery. 

The Athenian general, Demosthenes, shortly after suc- 
ceeded in gaining possession of the Messenian town of Pylos, 
whence he harassed the Spartan territories Avith devastating inroads. 
It was in vain that the Spartans endeavored to drive him from his posi- 
tion ; their attacks were repulsed, and more than four hundred heavy- 
armed Spartan troops were shut up in the barren island of Sphacteria, 
where they were reduced to great extremities. They only obtained the 
means of subsistence by the desperate landing effected by some Helots, to 
whom the Spartans had promised freedom if they were successful in the 
attempt. At last, to escape starvation, they were compelled to surrender 
themselves to Cleon, who had arrived with reinforcements. This success 
inflamed the insolence of the democratic leader. He fancied himself a hero, 
and obtained the command of an army that was intended to subdue the 
Sjiartan general, Brasidas, in Tiiracc. But Cleon suffered a defeat before 
the city of Amphipoiis, and was afterwards killed in the flight ; whereupon 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 47 

the opposite party gained the upper hand in Athens, and 
concluded the peace of Nicias. In the mean time, a despe- 
rate struggle was going on between the aristocratic and democratic fac- 
tions, in the greater number of the Greek cities ; but nowhere was the 
strife more sanguinary than in the island of Corcyra, where the most 
illustrious families were completely destroyed. By the help of the Athe- 
nians, the democrats got their adversaries in their power, shut them up 
in a building, and killed them by casting down stones upon their heads. 
Where the Spartans gained the upper hand, the aristocratic party became 
predominant, and punished their enemies by death and banishment ; if 
the Athenians prevailed, the democrats assumed the direction of afFiiirs, 
and treated their opponents with similar severity. 

§ 61. The conclusion of peace separated the Spartatis and Corinthians. 
The latter, in consequence, united themselves Avith Argos, Elis, and other 
cities of Arcadia, for the purpose of depriving the Spartans of their supe- 
riority (hegemony) in Peloponnesus. In this attempt, they received the 
assistance of Alcibiades, who was then in his twentieth year, and sister's 
son to Pericles, and who here displayed for the first time his address and 
powers of pei'suasion. Alcibiades was endowed with the greatest advan- 
tages both of mind and person. He was rich, handsome, accomplished, 
and a most admirable orator ; so that he was exactly fitted to supply the 
place of Pericles, had he only possessed more stability and j^rudence. 
The war, which the Spartans now had to sustain with the Corinthians 
and allies, would have been fatal to their authority, had not fortune 

declared for the Lacedsemdnian arms in the battle of Man- 
B. c. 418. 

tuiae'a. 

§ 62. Not long afterwards, the Athenians despatched the finest fleet 

and the most admirable army that had ever sailed from the 
F. c. 415. 

Pirje'us, to Sicily, under the command of Alcibiades, Nicias, 

and Lamachus, for the purpose of attacking the Dorian city, Syracuse. 
This undertaking failed. Alcibiades, during his absence, was accused by 
his enemies of many crimes against religion and the government, and 
was in consequence hastily recalled by the Athenian magistrates. Thirst- 
ing for vengeance, he fled to Sparta, and endeavored to stir up that state 
to make war upon Athens. The brave Lamachus fell in the siege of 
Syracuse ; the Athenian fleet was destroyed in the harbor ; and when 
Nicias attempted to escape by land with the remains of the army to a 
friendly city, he was attacked during a night march, and, after a bloody 
fight, taken prisoner with the whole of his troops. Those who did not 
fall in the engagement, were employed as slaves in the stone-quarries. 
The valiant generals, Nicias and Demosthenes, died in the market-place 
by the hands of the executioner. 

§ 63. Dark reports conveyed to Athens the first news of this dreadful 
blow ; when the frightful intelligence was confirmed, there was scarcely 



48 THE ANCIENT -ffORLD. 

a family that had not occasion to mourn. The Athenian allies fell off 
and joined the Lacedaemonians ; the Spartans renewed the war by sea 
and land, and were assisted by the Persian governor of Asia Minor. 
Within the city, the aristocratic party were attempting to overturn the 
constitution, and entered secretly into a traitorous alliance with the Spar- 
tans. Athens nevertheless defended herself for eight years against the 
superior force of the enemy, and was victor in two important engage- 
ments at sea. But no exertions could restore the crippled state to its 
former greatness. It was in vain that the Athenians recalled Alcibiades, 
gave him the command of the fleet and army, and cast the column, on 
which his crimes were inscribed, into the sea ; — even he could not bring 
back its ancient glories to the Athenian navy. A few months after he 
had entered Athens amidst the exulting shouts of the populace, he was 
again deprived of his command, because his lieutenant in his absence had 
lost the sea-fight of Ephesus. 

§ Gi. About this time, the Spartans gained an excellent leader in the 
artful and adventurous Lysander, who obtained the favor of the new 
governor of Asia Minor, Cyrus the younger, for the purpose of increasing 
the Lacedfcemdnian fleet by the assistance of the Persians. This Lysander 
took advantage of the carelessness of the Athenian commanders, who had 
suffered their men to go on shore, by making an unexpected attack upon 
their ships at the Goat's River (iEgos-p6 tamos), on the 

T> r-« 405 • 

Hellespont, and capturing the whole of them, except nme. 

The power of Athens was now vanished. After Lysander had reduced 

to submission the islands and towns that were friendly to the 

B C 404 . ^ 

Athenians, he blockaded Athens itself by land and sea, and 
the overcrowded city was soon reduced by hunger to surrender. The 
long walls and fortifications were pulled down to the sound of flutes ; the 
ships, with the exception of twelve, delivered to the Spartans, and all 
fugitives and outlaws recalled. Lysander then annulled the democratic 
constitution, and placed the government in the hands of thirty illustrious 
Athenians, who were the allies of Sparta. These aristocrats, distin- 
guished by the name of the Thirty Tyrants, with the clever but violent 
Critias at their head, breathed nothing but death and banishment against 
the democratic party. But this reign of terror was but of short duration. 
Thrasybiilus, a patriotic man, collected around him the fugitives and those 
who had been banished, and marched upon Athens. Critias was slain in 
battle ; the rest fell by treachery into the hands of the conqueror, who put 
them to death, reestablished the democratic constitution, and, by the as- 
surance that the past should be forgotten and forgiven, succeeded in 
again restoring tranquillity and order. 

4. SOCKATES. 

§ 65. During the Peloponnesian war, the morals of the Athenians had 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 49 

deteriorated, and honesty and civil virtue came to be less esteemed than 
Tvit and intelligence. This state of things was in a great degree brought 
about by the sophists, — false teachers, who paraded a factitious kind of 
wisdom founded upon fallacies and sophisms, and who presumed, by ora- 
torical arts and tricks of disputation, to put lies in the place of truth, and 
to convert truth into error. They enticed to themselves wealthy young 
men, and for great rewards instructed them in these arts, by Avhich means 
domestic and public life were poisoned in their very sources. At this 
juncture arose Socrates, an Athenian citizen, who unmasked these so- 
phistical mountebanks, and awakened the sentiments of religion, justice, 
and virtue in the bosoms of his pupils. Socrates taught his practical 
philosophy, the end of which was " Know thyself," not in elaborate dis- 
courses from the lecturer's chair, but by questions and answers in the 
public streets, under the open sky, or in the workshops of mechanics. 
The sophists were reduced to silence by his clear intellect, his simple 
and upright life, and his moral worth ; whilst the richest and most 
talented young men united themselves to him. This exasperated the 
vain and greedy sophists, and they accused him of seducing the youth, 
and introducing false gods. Socrates, in a simple defence, disproved 
before the judges the truth of this accusation. But instead, as was 
then the custom, of imploring his acquittal with prayers and lamenta- 
tions, he concluded his discourse by asserting that he was entitled to be 
received into the number of those illustrious men, who, on account 
of their services to the commonwealth, were maintained at the public 
expense. This offended the judges, and Socrates was condemned to 
death by a small majority. It w^as in vain that his friends, particularly 
the rich citizen Crito, persuaded him to fly ; he rejected their counsels, 
and in the midst of elevating discourses on the immortal nature of the 
soul, (Plato's Phredo), he drank the cup of poison, and died with the 
cheerfulness and composure of mind of a philosopher. He has left 
nothing in writing : but his illustrious disciple, Plato, has placed his own 
philosophy in the mouth of Socrates. This Plato was so distinguished 
as a writer and thinker that he was named the " Divine," as well on 
account of his splendid and exalted ideas and poetical images, as of the 
perfect art of representation which is displayed by his works, written in 
the form of dialogues. Next to him, Xenophon the Athenian, at once a 
soldier and a writer, was the most distinguished of the disciples of So- 
crates. He has made the world acquainted with the life and doctrines 
of his master, in several philosophical pieces, entitled " Memorabilia of 
Socrates." 

■••5. THE KETREAT OP THE TEN THOUSAND. B. C. 400. 

§ 66. Xenophon's most admirable historical work is the "Anabasis," 
or the description of the campaign of the younger Cyrus in Persia, and 

5 



THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



of the retreat of the Greek troops under the command of Xenophon him- 
self. After its contest with Greece, the Persian empire had grown gra- 
dually Aveaker. The governors ruled the provinces in an arbitrary manner, 
and excited insurrections by their oppression. The court was swayed 
by selfish and effeminate men and intriguing women, who practised the 
most frightful crimes, gave themselves up to eveiy lust and excess, and 
perplexed the affairs of the kingdom by their contests for the crown. It 
was under these circumstances, that the younger Cyrus, governor of Asia 
Minor, entertained the project of depriving his elder brother, Artaxerxes, 
of the crown. He assembled a considerable army of mercenaries, the 
flower of which was composed of Spartan and other Greek troops, and 
marched with them into Persia. A battle was fought in the plain of 
Cunaxa, a few miles from Babylon, in which the Greeks indeed proved 
victorious, but Cyrus fell by the hand of his brother. The Greeks were 
summoned to surrender, and when they refused, the Persians invited 
Clearchus and the other captains to an interview, in which they were 
treacherously murdered. The Athenian, Xenophon, then placed himself 
at the head of the helpless host, and led them, under the most incredible 
hardships, through Armenia to the Black Sea, and thence to Byzantium. 
Without any knowledge of the land or of the language, without guides on 
whom they could depend, they were compelled to climb pathless mount- 
ains, to wade through rivers, to march through inhospitable and snow- 
covered deserts, pursued by the Persians, and attacked by the inhabitants. 
When they caught the first glimpse of the Black Sea from an eminence, 
they fell upon their knees and saluted it with a shout of joy, as the ter- 
minatiofi of their miseries. 

6. THE TIME OF AGESILAUS AND EPAMINONDAS. 

§ 67. Sparta, by the Peloponnesian war, had become the first power 
in Greece. She abused her authority, however, by tyrannizing over the 
other states, and by this means brought upon herself the hatred of her 
allies, in the same way that Athens had formerly done. Her inhabitants 
had long degenerated from the simplicity and severity of manners en- 
joined by Lycurgus. Foreign wars had brought riches, these produced 
avarice and love of pleasure, and from these again proceeded a host of 
vices. Kings and generals suffered themselves to be bought by sums of 
money, and disgraced themselves by corruption. A few families acquired 
enormous wealth and possessions, and plunged into luxury and intemper- 
ance, whilst the poorer classes starved. Even the powerful king, Agesi- 
laus, a strenuous advocate for the old Spartan virtue and simplicity, was 
unable to restrain these vices. 

The other states had also long equally degenerated from the virtues and 
patriotism of an earlier period. Their citizens disaccustomed themselves 
from the use of arms, and relinquished the practice of war to hired mer- 



HISTORY OF GREECE. Ol 

cenaries ; and when king Agesilaus declared war against the crumbling 
empire of Persia, and penetrated with his victorious banners into Asia 
Minor, the Athenians, Corinthians, Boeotians, and some others, were so 
forgetful of their honor and national feelings, that they suffered them- 
selves to be persuaded by the Persian monarch to take the field against 
Sparta ; so that Agesilaus was compelled to retreat, and to turn his arms, 
in the so-called Corinthian war, against the Greeks themselves. Dis- 
union, enervation, and jealousy at length produced such an indifference 
to national honor, that the Greek states rivalled each other to secure the 
favor of Persia, and consented to the shameful peace of An- 
tdlcidas, by which the west coast of Asia Minor was given 
up to the Persians, and in consequence lost forever to liberty and 
Greece. 

§ 68. The peace of Antalcidas contained the farther condition, that all 
the Grecian states should be free. The Spartans, who were appointed 
the guardians and executors of the treaty, took this opportunity to dis- 
solve all alliances between the states, and to increase their own power. 
But their arrogance was soon punished. The Greek town Olynthus, in 
Macedonia, had united several neighboring cities in a confederation, over 
which, as the principal city, it exercised authority. The Spartans ob- 
jected to this, as contrary to the conditions of the peace of Antalcidas, 
and on the Olynthians refusing to dissolve the confederacy, marched an 
army into the country, besieged their town, and compelled them to sub- 
mission. During the march through Boeotia, the Spartan general allowed 
himself to be persuaded by the aristocratic party in Thebes to invest the 
town and overturn the democratic constitution. The undertaking was 
successful. The chiefs of the popular party were either executed, ba- 
nished, or imprisoned ; the aristocrats seized upon the government, and, 
confident of the support of the Spartans, ruled with insolence and vio- 
lence. 

§ G9. But the hour of retribution was approaching. The banished 
democrats united themselves in Athens, whence they commenced a cor- 
respondence with their friends in Thebes. At their instigation, they in 
a short time returned in secret, in the disguise of clowns, assembled 
themselves in the house of one of the party, and, issuing forth at mid- 
night, fell upon the aristocrats who were collected together at a luxurious 
repast. After these had been despatched, they summoned the citizens to 
liberty, reestablished the deraocratical government, and forced the Spar- 
tan garrison to retreat from the citadel. This occasioned a war between 
the Thebans and Lacedccmdnians. The commonwealth of Thebes was 
at that time conducted by two men, who joined patriotism and virtue to 
courage and military talents, and who were united together by the bonds 
of friendship, — Epaminondas and Pelopidas. They united their efforts 
in the attempt to elevate their country. Epaminondas introduced a new 



52 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

system of tactics, " the oblique order of battle," and Pelopidas was the 
originator of the sacred band, which, composed of a number of youths 
united together by friendship, and inspired by a love of honor and free- 
dom, offered a successful resistance to the Spartans. At first, the Athe- 
nians sided with the Thebans, and by means of their generals, Iphicrates, 
Chabrias, and Timotheus, did much mischief to the Lacedaemonians, 
both by sea and land. But when Thebes subjected the lesser cities of 
Bceotia to its authority, and destroyed Plata^'a, a town that was on 
friendly terms Avith Athens, the old jealousy again awoke, Athens con- 
cluded a peace with Sparta, and when the Thebans refused to accede to 

its conditions, the Lacedaemonian troops asrain marched into 
B. c. 371. ... r ._ 

their territory, but suffered so terrible a defeat from Epami- 

nondas and Pelopidas, in the battle of Leuctra, that Sparta never re- 
covered from its effects. For the first time, the Lacedcem^nian troops 
fled from the field of battle, so that the old Spartan law, which declared 
fugitives to be infamous, could not be put in force. 

§ 70. Epamindndas shortly after marched into Peloponnesus, and ap- 
proached the unwalled capital of Laconia, that for five centuries had 
never seen an enemy in its neighborhood. But the preparations for de- 
fence made by the old king, Agesilaus, and the determined attitude 
assumed by the Spartans, whose wives and children prepared to aid in 
the struggle, preserved it from attack. But Epamindndas expiated an 
old act of injustice. He called the Messenians to liberty, and restored to 
the exiles who returned from abroad the land of their fathers, with the 
newly-built town of Messene. Some years later, Epamindndas again 
appeared in Peloponnesus. The Spartans and their allies, under the 
command of Agesilaus, presented themselves, and foucht 

B. C. 362. o 7 1 7 o 

with him the battle of Mantin£e''a. In this battle, the The- 
bans indeed proved victorious, but conquest was dearly bought by the 
death of Epamindndas. A javelin had pierced his breast, but it was not 
till he heard that the enemy were defeated, that he allowed the weapon to 
be withdrawn, and breathed forth his heroic spirit. Two years before, the 
brave Peldpidas had lost his life in Thessaly, and in the following year, at 
the age of eighty, died Agesilaus, after witnessing Sparta's highest glory 
and her deepest fall. Epamindndas was magnanimous, experienced in 
war, and as just, unselfish, and poor as Aristi'des himself; the loftiness of 
his aims, and the sense of his own pei-sonal worth, elevated him above 
avarice and the pursuit of pleasure, and the single cloak which he pos- 
sessed was a greater ornament to him than any wealth could have been. 
His death Avas followed by a general flagging in the energies of the 
Greeks. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 53 

7. THE MOST FLOURISHING PERIOD OF GREECE IN LITERATURE 

AND THE ARTS. 

§ 71. Whilst the Greeks were destroying their own power and dis- 
turbing the public tranquillity by their internal contests, literature and 
the plastic arts attained their highest perfection. Dramatic poetry, that 
in its origin had been connected with the festivals of the wine-god, 
Dionysus, was raised to a wonderful height by the three great poets, So- 
phocles, Euripides, and iE'schylus. The lives of these three men, who 
were the perfecters of the serious drama (tragedy), may be connected 
with the battle of Salamis, since ^'schylus, who was then in his forty- 
fiftJT year, fought in the ranks of the combatants ; Sophocles, at fifteen, 
took a part in the chorus of youths in the festival held after the battle 
for the celebration of the victory, and Euripides was born on the day of 
the engagement. In the seven pieces of iE'schylus, (the Prometheus 
vinctus, Persa3, Agamemnon, &c.), we may recognize the great period of 
the Persian war, when the souls of the Greeks were inspired by a noble 
enthusiasm for freedom and their fatherland. His compositions, which 
breathe a reverence for the gods, a respect for ancient institutions, and 
the self-consciousness of a lofty mind, are occasionally rendered obscure 
by the bold flight of the ideas, and the solemn energy of the language. 

In the tragedies of Sophocles, of which also seven are preserved (An- 
tigone, Q^'pidus, Electra, &c.), we see the age of Pericles, with its cul- 
tivation and intellectual sociality ; and hence these compositions remain 
unapproachable models of beauty and harmonious perfection of style. 
Euripides, of whom we possess nineteen pieces (Medea, Hecuba^ Iphi- 
geni'a, &c.), belongs to a less energetic period. He prefers to linger 
amidst scenes of justice, in which the Athenians took especial delight ; 
he makes abundant use of the artfully-constructed speeches, sentences, 
and common-places then in vogue among philosophers, and seeks to affect 
his auditors by scenes of sorrow and distress. He replaces the creative 
power and genuine feeling of his predecessors, by sensibility and elegant 
and polished language. Euripides's contemporary, Aristophanes, brought 
comedy to perfection. His pieces, in which he contrasts the vices of his 
own age with the virtues of an eai'lier period, were often rendered more 
effective by living characters, who were introduced by name, and por- 
trayed so accurately, that it was impossible to mistake them. Thus, in 
his " Frogs," and in another of his pieces, he ridiculed Euripides and his 
flat and lachrymose tragedies ; in his " Clouds," he held up to derision 
the sophists (under the name of Socrates*) who attempted to undermine 

* This is an ingenious plea to save Aristophanes from the serious charge of intending 
to ridicule, and hold up to public contempt, the greatest and purest cliaracter of his age, 
and indeed of all antiquity. But the excuse cannot be maintained ; there can be no doubt 
that the satirist, who was as licentious as he was witty, actually intended to injure the re- 
putation of Socrates, whom for the tune he much disliked. Am. Ed. 
n* 



54 



THE ANCIENT WOKLD. 



the faith of the people ; and he was even bold enough to attack the power- 
ful Cleon, and the selfish demasrosrues, in his " Knicihts." 

The chorus, which was a feature peculiar to the Greek drama, uttered 
in unimpassioned and lyrical poetry the sentiments and reflections of the 
audience upon what was going on upon the stage. The splendid theatres 
which were everywhere erected, and which were magnificent specimens 
of architecture, contributed not a little to the elevation of the dramatic 
art. A rich citizen could find no better way to the favor of the people 
than exhibiting a dramatic performance at his own expense. 

§ 72. It was at this same period that the prose literature of the Greeks 
Plato, B. c. rose to its highest point of cultivation. In the dialogues of 
429-348. Plato, (§ 65,) the lofty thoughts of a rich and creative mind 

are clothed in the finest language, and presented in the most attractive 
Herodotus form. Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, is looked upon as the 
B. c. 450. father of history. lie described the contests of the Greeks 
and Persians in simple and copious language, but occasionally introduced 
portions of the earlier history of the oriental and Greek tribes, so that 
his account contains a great deal that is fabulous, which he copied from 
the narrations of the priests. During his extensive travels, he made 
himself acquainted by personal observation with most of the countries of 
which he relates the history. His work was written for the people, and 
therefore its language is simple and cordial. He shows how the love of 
freedom, the discipline, and the moderation of the Greeks, bore off the 
victory from the servility, the disorderly masses, and the pomp of the 
Thucydides, Asiatics. The historical works of Herodotus kindled the 
B. c. 430. emulation of the patriotic Athenian, Thucydides. He had 
been banished at the time of the battle of Amphi'polis, (§ 60), and de- 
voted the years of his absence to the composition of his " History of the 
Peloponnesian war." His " thought-weighted " language, and the pro- 
fundity of his reflections, render this work unintelligible, except to the 
learned. The history of Thucydides ends with the twenty-first year of 
the Peloponnesian war. 

Xenophon, Xenophon, his continuator, takes up the historical thread 

B. c. 400. where Thucydides relinquished it. He is distinguished by the 
cleai'ness, ease, and beauty of his style, but is far inferior to Thucydides in 
depth and liistorical accuracy. Although an Athenian, Xenophon respects 
and praises the Spartans, especially their king, Agesilaus, of whose life 
he had also written a description. For this reason, his Greek history is 
composed with a conscious pai'tiality ; the illustrious Thebans, Pelopidas 
and Epamindndas in particular, are thrown entirely into the shade. His 
history concludes with the battle of Mantinje'a. Another work of Xeno- 
phon's was a history of the elder Cyrus (Cyropajdia), a sort of romance, 
in which he displays the founder of the Persian empire as the model of a 
regent. 



HISTORY OP GREECE. 55 

§ 73. Rhetoric, also, about this time, rose in Athens to its highest point 
of perfection. If eloquence had originally been a gift of nature, an in- 
born talent, it began, after the Peloponnesian war, to be treated as an art, 
and rules and theories were established respecting it. Schools of oratory 
were opened, where the Athenian youth who wished to devote themselves 
to public life, or to the affairs of government or the law, received in- 
struction. For in a democratic republic like Athens, he alone could hope 
to exert himself with success, who was capable of speaking well. Among 
the ten Athenian orators who have left written discourses behind them, 
B. c. Isocrates takes the first rank, both on account of the artistic 

436 — 338. skill and perfection of style displayed by his discourses, and 
more particularly, from the great success of his oratorical school. The 
J. ,., ^ most renowned of the pupils of Isocrates, was Demosthenes, 
B. c. who, from his youth upwaixls, kept his purpose so steadily be- 

385 — 322. fore his eyes that he made incredible efforts to overcome his 
natural impediments, so that he might render himself an orator. No one 
possessed to an equal degree with himself the gift of exciting, enchaining, 
and inspiring his auditors. Animation of delivery, alternations from se- 
verity to ridicule, bitter outbursts, and happy turns of expression, all 
served him as weapons. The most remarkable of his productions are the 
twelve political orations against Philip of Macedon (Philippics), in which 
he endeavors to excite the Athenians to make war upon this enterprising 
monarch, who was at that time meditating the subjection of Greece. 
The rival of Demosthenes was ^'schines, an orator like himself, who 
sided with the king of Macedon and his party. When the Athenian 
senate awarded a golden crown to Demosthenes, ^^schines attempted, in 
a brilliant speech, to procure a revocation of the vote by calling in ques- 
tion the merits of him to whom the crown had been presented. This gave 
Demosthenes the opportunity of so overwhelming his opponent, in his in- 
comparable oration " de Corona," that ^'schines was sentenced to pun- 
ishment, and experienced so much annoyance, that he betook himself to 
Rhodes, where he established a school of oratory. 

§ 74. The most flourishing period of the fine arts, under which term 
are included architecture, sculpture, and painting, was from the time of 
Pericles to the death of Alexander. The feeling for art that was inhe- 
rent in the Greeks, was the chief cause of this perfection. Grecian archi- 
tecture was particularly distinguished by symmetry and harmony, so that 
every building formed a beautiful whole. The principal feature in a 
Greek edifice are the pillars, which are divided into three orders by the 
differences in their capitals. The plain and massive Doric, the slender 
Ionic with its voluted capital, and the highly-decorated Corinthian. 
They were particularly employed in the entrances of the temples, and 
in halls and porticos. The dwelling-houses of the ancients were 
small and insignificant, so that their architectural skill could only be 



56 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

displayed in their public buildings, temples, theatres, senate-bouses, mo- 
numents, &c. 

The art of sculpture was carried to its highest perfection by the 
Greeks, and the masterpieces of antiquity that have been preserved to 
us are even now regarded as unapproachable examples of beauty. 
Amongst the artists, the next in celebrity to Phidias (§ 58) are Scopas 
of Paros, Praxiteles of Athens, and Lysippus of Si'cyon. Since the best 
way of showing respect to a celebrated or deserving man, in Greece, was 
to erect his statue, or set up his bust or " hermes " (bust placed on a 
pedestal), artists everywhere found employment and encouragement. 
Every city made it a point of honor to possess a multitude of statues in 
its streets and public places. The splendid physical conformation of the 
Greeks, which was disfigured by no ugly habiliments, and the oppor- 
tunity, afforded by the exercises of the gymnasium, of seeing the naked 
figure in every variety of attitude, tended materially to the perfection 
of the art of sculpture. The statue of the Belvidere Apollo, the group 
of the Laocoon, and innumerable figures and works in bas-relief, afford 
splendid evidence of the high artistic capabilities of the Greeks. 

In painting, the names of Parrhasius, Zeuxis, and Apelles are particu- 
larly celebrated. We possess no specimen of ancient painting except the 
figures on the Grecian vases of burnt earth, and a few pictures on the 
walls of old buildings. Music, dancing, and the histrionic art were also 
cultivated by the Greeks with enthusiasm. 



III. THE MACEDONIAN PERIOD. 

1. PHILIP OF MACEDON, B. C. 361-336. 

§ 75. Northward from Greece lies the rude and mountainous tract 
of Macedonia, the inhabitants of which were not looked upon as belong- 
ing to the Hellenes, though they had adopted the military system and 
many institutions of the Greeks. They were a military race, delighting 
in war and the chase, and in chivalrous exercises and entertainments. 
A year after the death of Epamindndas, Philip assumed the government 
of this people. He was a man who united the shrewdness and dexterity 
of a statesman, the talents of a general, and the generosity and magna- 
nimity of a prince. He both loved and respected the cultivation, and the 
artists and j^oets, of Greece, but held fast, nevertheless, to the manners 
of his own people, and even shared the disposition to intemperance 
indulged in by his nobles. He possessed a well-appointed and efficient 
army, which was rendered particularly formidable by a newly-invented 
order of battle, called the phalanx. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 57 

§ 76. Philip's great aim was the subjugation of the disunited Greek 
states. The sacred war afforded him the wished for opportunity for this 
purpose. Tlie Th'ebans wanted to reduce the neighboring state, Phocis, 
under their own dominion, and had cited the inhabitants before the coun- 
cil of Amphictyons, on a charge of having taken possession of, and 
brought into cultivation, some of the lands belonging to the temple of 
Delphi. The council inflicted a heavy fine upon the Phdcians, and upon 
their refusing to pay it, they were placed under a ban, and the Thebans 
were directed to carry the punishment into execution. Upon this, the 
Phocians took possession of the temple of Delphi, and employed the 
treasures deposited there in hiring an army of mercenaries, by whose 
assistance they succeeded in defending themselves for ten years against 
all the attacks of their enemies. The Thebans addressed themselves to 
Philip for assistance. Philip yielded to their request, first subjected the 
Tliessalians, and then penetrated by the pass of ThermdpyltB into Phocis. 
After a gallant resistance, the Phdcians were compelled to submit. They 
were thrust out of the council of the Amphictyons, as a people accursed, 
and Philip was admitted in their place ; their cities were razed to the 
ground, some of the inhabitants quitted their country, others were 
carried into slavery, and those that remained were compelled to pay 
tribute. 

§ 77. Px-evious to this, Philip had taken possession of the Greek colo- 
nial cities, Amphipolis and Potidaj'a, in Maceddnia, and had founded the 
strong town of Philippi in the neighborhood of the former, in a region 
abounding in gold mines ; after this, he had subjected the haughty city 
Olynthus, and punished it severely in its possessions and liberties. But 
it was only by the breaking out of a second sacred war, that he was 
enabled to attain his object. The Ldcrians were now accused in the 
same way the Phdcians had formerly been, of having appropriated and 
brought under cultivation a portion of the lands belonging to the temple 
of Delphi ; and for this crime, they were visited with a heavy fine by the 
council of Amphictyons. As this fine was not paid, the Amphictyons, 
at the suggestion of the orator, ^'schines, who, in his capacity of Athe- 
nian deputy, was present at their council, commuted the punishment of 
the Ldcrians. The Maceddnian king, Philip, hastened thither with his 
army, subdued the Ldcrians, and laid siege quite unexpectedly to the 
importantly situated town of Elatea. This arbitraiy proceeding roused 
the Athenians from their indifference, and induced them to give a hear- 
ing to the exhortations of Demdsthenes. The orator himself arranged 
an alliance with the Thebans, and effected the equipment of a consider- 
able army. But these troops, collected together in haste, and placed 
under the command of incompetent leaders, were unable to sustain the 
shock of the Macedonian phalanx. Despite the valor of the sacred band 
of the Thebans, who fell to a man on the field, Philip gained the battle 



58 THE ANCIENT ATORLD. 

of Chseronea, "vvliich put an end forever to the liberties of 

B. C. 338. 

Greece. Demosthenes pronounced the funeral oration over 
the bodies of those who had fallen, and Isocrates, who was then nearly a 
hundred years old, put himself to death rather than survive the liberties 
of his countr'y. For the rest, Philip treated the Greeks with kindness 
and affability, to accustom them more readily to the Macedonian yoke. 
He cherished the purpose of attacking the crumbling empire of Persia, 
at the head of the united states of Greece, and summoned an assembly 
of the whole nation at Corinth, to make the necessary preparations. lie 
was already named generalissimo of the forces, with unlimited powers, 
and every state was directed to furnish him with its contingent of troops, 
when he was killed, from motives of private vengeance, by one of bis 
body guard, at the nuptials of his daughter at Pella, in Maceddnia. 

2. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

§ 78. After the death of Philip, the Macedonian throne was ascended 
by his son Alexander, at the age of twenty-one ; a high-spirited prince, 
and susceptible of all that is great and honorable. He was brought up 
and instructed in the culture of the Greeks by Aristotle, the great philo- 
sopher, thinker, and inquirer ; and in consequence, remained through his 
whole life a friend and admirer of the Grecian art and literature. As 
soon as Alexander had established himself upon the throne, he was 
acknowledged by the Greeks as the successor of his father in the office 
of generalissimo against the Persians. Before, however, he could under- 
take the campaign to Asia Minor, he had to sustain a severe encounter 
Avith some wild tribes, who had made an irruption into Maceddnia. A 
false report of his death was suddenly spread abroad in Greece, and 
filled the Greeks Avith the hope of again regaining their independence. 
The Thebans killed a part of the Macedonian garrison in their citadel, 
and the Athenians and Peloponnesians made preparations for war. But 
Alexander came upon them with the rapidity of lightning, Thebes was 
taken, its walls and houses levelled with the ground, and the inhabitants 
reduced to slavery. Only the temple and the house of the jioet Pindar 
were spared. The rest of the Greeks were terrified, and the victor, who 
soon repented of his severity, forgave them. 

§ 79. It was in the spring of the year 334 B. c, that Alexander com- 
menced his expedition against the Persians, with a small but valiant 
army, commanded by admirable officers, Clitus, Parm^nio, Ptolemai'us, 
and Antigonus. The army arrived at the Hellespont by the same path 
that Xerxes had taken, but in the contrary direction. At the passage, 
Alexander was the first who sprang upon the Asiatic continent, where, 
upon the plain of Troy, he instituted solemn games and sacrifices in 
honor of the ancient heroes who had fallen there. Achilles was his 
model ; for this reason, he always carried the compositions of Homer 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 59 

about witli him. Shortly after, the battle at the stream 
Granicus took place, where Alexander carried off" the victory 
from the far superior force of the Persians. His courage and chivalrous 
spirit here plunged him into imminent hazard of hfs life, from which he 
was only rescued by the timely assistance of his general, Clitus. The 
conquest of Asia Minor was the consequence of this victory. The Greek 
cities submitted themselves voluntarily, and hailed with joyful enthusiasm 
the kingly hero who had sprung from their own race. In the city of Gdr- 
dium, there existed a very ancient royal chariot, with a knot twisted in'the 
most intricate manner, respecting which an oracle had declared, that who- 
ever should unfasten this knot should gain the empire of Asia. Alex- 
ander accomplished the prophecy by cutting the Gordian knot Avith his 
sword. After this, he ci'ossed by perilous marches the Cilician moun- 
tains, where he got a dangerous illness by bathing in the cold waters of 
the Cydnus, from which he was only restored by the skill of the Greek 
physician, Philippus, and his own confidence in human virtue. 

§ 80. Darius Codomannus himself now opposed him with a much 
stronger force, but suffered a complete overthrow in the battle of the 
Issus. This unfortunate king, who was worthy of a better fate, fled with 
the remains of his army into the interior of his dominions, whilst Alex- 
ander prepared to attack Phoenicia and Palestine, so as not to leave these 
lands unsubdued in his rear. The booty, after the battle of the Issus, 
was immense ; and the number of the prisoners, amongst whom were the 
mother, wife, and daughter of Dan'us, who, contrary to the customs of 
antiquity, were generously treated by the conqueror, not at all inferior. 

§ 81. Palestine and Phoenicia submitted without resistance ; but Tyre, 
confident in the strength of its position, rejected the summons to surren- 
der with defiance. Upon this, Alexander undertook the celebrated siege 
of Tyre, which lasted seven months. He commanded a mole, with 
towers, to be erected from the main land to the island on which the city 
was built; and from this mol^ his soldiers attempted the conquest of the 
town by machines for casting stones, and by every means that art could 
supply, whilst his ships blockaded the place by sea. But the Tyrians 
defeated his attempts by ingenious methods of defence, and maintained a 
desperate resistance. For this. Tyre had to make a heavy 
ex^siation when it was at length taken. Those of the in- 
habitants who had not escaped or perished in the siege, were reduced to 
slavery, and the city itself was levelled to the ground. For the purpose 
of directing the commerce of the world into a different channel, Alex- 
ander, after he had conquered Egypt, built Alexandria on an arm of the 
Nile, and this city soon became the central point of trade and civiliza- 
tion. From Egypt he marched to the widely-renowned temple of Jupi- 
ter Ammon in the oasis of Sivah, where the priests declared him to be 
the son of Jupiter, a distinction that gained him no little respect in the 
eyes of the superstitious orientals. 



60 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

§ 82. After Alexander had established a new government in Egypt, 
he marched against Darius, Avho, in the mean time, had collected a large 
army. He crossed the Euphrates and Tigris, and with a 
I?, c. 331. ^.^^^^ ^^^j^ ^j^^ twentieth part of that of the enemy, he de- 
feated the enormous host of the Tersians which had been assembled 
together from all the East in the plains of Babylon, in the battle of 
Arbela and Gaugamela. The conquest of Babylon, and the capture of 
the two ancient capitals, Susa and Persepolis, with an enormous treasure, 
were the fruits of this splendid victory. Darius fled from Ecbatana, the 
beautiful summer residence of the Persian kings, to the mountainous 
rejrion of Bactria, where he received his death from the hand of his 
treacherous governor, Bessus. Alexander shed tears over the fate of his 
unfortunate rival, and caused his murderer, who had assumed the title of 
king, but who was soon overcome and taken prisoner by the Macedoni- 
ans, to be crucified in conformity with the Persian custom. 

§ 83. The enterprising conqueror succeeded, by dint of a daring 
march across the snow-covered Indian Caucasus, during which his sol- 
diers narrowly escaped perishing by hunger and fatigue, in making 
himself master of the mountain region to the south-east of the Caspian 
Sea, and rendering it approachable by the roads he caused to be con- 
structed. Ilis lofty spirit Avas not entirely absorbed by scenes of war 
and conquest, but could attend to the civilization of the savage inhabit- 
ants. Four newly-erected towns, named after him, Alexandria, became 
the centre of the caravan trade, and diffused the Greek cultivation among 
the farthest nations of the East. At the storming of a strong fortress, 
he took prisoner the beautiful princess, lloxana, " the Pearl of the East," 
and made her his wife. 

§ 84. Although the Macedonians repeatedly expressed their discontent 
at their leader's unbounded love of conquest, Alexander nevertheless 
proceeded onwards, to subjugate the lands on the banks of the Indus. 
But the warlike inhabitants of northern India, urged on by their priests, 
offered him a far more vigorous resistance than the dastardly subjects of 
the Persian king. Alexander's life was exposed more than once to the 
greatest peril in the storming of their strong-holds. The quarrels of the 
native princes facilitated the conquest of the Land of the Five Kivers 
(Punjaub) by the Macedonians. Some of them leagued themselves with 
Alexander against Porus, the most powerful of these princes on the 
farther side of the Hydaspes (Dschelum). The passage of this river in 
the face of the enemy, and the action that followed, in which the gallant 
Porus was wounded and taken prisoner, are among the greatest military 
achievements of antiquity. Two new cities, Bucephala (so named in 
honor of Alexander's charger, Bucephalus), and Nictis'a (city of Vic- 
tory), were to diff'use Grecian civilization among these lands also. 
Alexander continued his course by difficult marches, still farther east- 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 61 

ward, to Hyphasis, and was already making preparations to add the rich 
lands of the Ganges to his dominions, when the murmurs of the Mace- 
donians became so loud that he was compelled, though with inward 
reluctance, to retreat. Twelve stone altars on the banks of the river 
mark the eastern termination of his conquests. After restoring their 
lands to Porus and the other Indian princes under Macedonian supremacy, 
he sailed down the Indus to discover another way of returning. 

This undertaking proved most fatal. In two montlis, he lost three 
fourths of his army in the frightful deserts of Gedrosia, The heroic 
warriors, who had bidden defiance to sword and lance in so many battles, 
fell victims in the barren and waterless desert to want and fatigue, to the 
miseries of the climate, the fervid sun, the heated sand, and the nightly 
frosts. Alexander magnanimously shared all the dangers and ditficulties 
with the meanest of his troops, and rewarded those who escaped with 
entertainments and presents; by this means, the feasting became as 
excessive as the previous want. 

§ 85. Upon his return, Alexander dismissed his veteran soldiers to 
their homes, after having laden them with presents ; inflicted punish- 
ments upon the faithless governors and officers, who, during his absence, 
had committed acts of violence and oppression, and then devoted himself 
zealously to the plan of assimilating the conquered people with their 
victors, and uniting them together in one nation possessed of the arts and 
cultivation of Greece. He treated the Persians with kindness, for the 
purpose of attaching them to his person and his rule. He surrounded 
himself with a court after the fashion of their kings, assumed the royal 
habit and diadem, and employed Persian guards and attendants. He 
encouraged marriages between his generals and soldiers and the maidens 
of the country, by presents, and he himself espoused one of the daughters 
of Darius. By this conduct, Alexander offended the Macedonians and 
Greeks, who wished to rule over the conquered people. Already, during 
the Indian campaign, the soldiers had displayed their discontent and ill 
humor in dissatisfied murmurs. This induced Alexander to have Phi- 
Idtas, the playfellow of his youth, and who was now the head of the 
malcontents, stoned by the army, and to put to death his aged father 
Parraenio, who had remained behind in Persia. 

Alexander had at first imitated the customs of the Persian monarchs 
for the purpose of conciliating the conquered people ; but he soon began 
to take delight in this oriental magnificence. His court at Babylon, 
which he intended to make the seat of the government of his empire, 
shone with the highest splendor ; riotous feasts and banquets crowded 
upon each other, and in the intoxication of sensual indulgence, he com- 
mitted deeds that afterwards cost him bitter repentance. Among these 
may be mentioned the murder of his deserving general, Clitus, who 
saved his life at the Gram'cus, but who afterwards excited his anger by 

G 



62 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

some sarcastic speeches as they were drinking. His heart was corrupted 
by flatterers, who thrust his honest and well-meaning advisers from his 
side. The intemperate indulgence in strong wines undermined his health, 
and brought him to an eaidy grave. One of the last acts of the hero 
was instituting magnificent funeral solemnities in honor of his prema- 
turely departed friend, Ilephoi'stion. His grief for this friend of his 
youth had not yet passed away, when an illness carried him 
to the grave in the midst of fresh schemes of conquest, and 
before he had determined upon a successor. When he Avas asked to 
whom he left his kingdom, he is said to have replied, " To the worthiest." 
His dead body was brought from Babylon to Alexandria, and there 
interred. 



3. THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD. 



a. ALEXANDER S SUCCESSORS. 



§ 86. As Alexander left no heir behind him who was capable of 
assuming the government, — only a brother, who was imbecile, and two 
children who were minors, — his empire fell to pieces as rapidly as it had 
been constructed. After many fierce and bloody wars, in which the 
house of Alexander was totally destroyed, his generals succeeded in 
grasping separate portions of his territories, and erecting them into inde- 
pendent kingdoms. At first, Perdiccas, to whom Alexander had given 
his signet ring, received the greatest respect, and took upon 
himself the office of regent. But when he made war upon 
Ptolemy, the governor of Egypt, he was killed by his own soldiers; 
whereupon Antigonus assumed the chief power. Antigonus 
made himself master of the treasury in Susa, and hired such 
a number of mercenary troops, that he was enabled to bid defiance to the 
rest of the generals, and compel them to acknowledge him as commander 
and regent of the empire. As he allowed it, however, to be pretty 
plainly seen that he aimed at nothing less than the sovei'eignty of the 
whole of the Alexandrian dominions, the other generals, Seleucus of 
Syria, Ptolemy of Egypt, and Cassander of Macedon, leagued them- 
selves together against him and his son Demetrius, who afterwards 
obtained the surname of Poliorcctes (Taker of Cities). From this 
originated a long contest, that was carried on at the same time both in 
Greece and Asia, with various success, and which was only terminated 
by the great battle of Ipsus, in Asia Minor, where the hero Antigonus, 
who was then eighty years old, lost his life, and his son Demetrius was 
obliged to fly. After many partitions and interchanges, Alexander's 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 63 

empire (a few smaller states excepted) was finally divided into the three 
following kingdoms : — 

I. Macedonia and Greece. 
11. The Syrian empire of the Seleiicidce. 
III. Egypt under the Ptolemies. 

h. Greece's last struggle, the achaian league. 

§ 87. From the time of the battle of Chteronea, Greece had remain- 
ed under the government or influence of the Macedonian kings, and all 
attempts made by individual states to shake off this yoke had proved 
ineffectual. Thus the attempt of the brave Spartan king, Agis II., who, 
with 5000 of his followers, died the death of heroes in the 

B. C. 330. 

bloody field of Megalopolis, was productive of no result. 

The contests between the aristocratic and democratic parties still con- 
tinued in Athens during the Macedonian period. When the aristocrats, 
with the noble Phocion at their head, obtained the government by the 
aid of the Macedonians, ^any of the popular party, and among others, 
Demosthenes, the vehement opposer of the royal house of Macedon, 
quitted the city. Threatened with being given up, the great 
orator fled to a temple of Neptune, where he destroyed 
himself by poison, to save himself from falling into the hands of his 
enemies. Some years afterwards, the democrats again gained the upper 
hand, when they compelled Phocion, in his tura, to drink the cup of 
poison. From this time, party violence diminished in Athens, but the 
love of freedom, patriotism, and civic virtue decayed with it. Effeminacy 
and the pursuit of pleasure choked the nobler feelings, and although the 
arts and sciences still continued to flourish, and Athens still remained the 
centre of civilization, the greatness of the peoi^le was gone forever. 
The citizens disgraced themselves by servility and flattery, particularly 
at the time when the two Demetrii, Phalereus and Poliorcetes, were 
resident in their city, and desti'oyed all morahty by their sensuality and 
debauchery. 

§ 88. About the middle of the third century, Greece made a final 
effort in the Achaian league, to which Aratus of Si'cvon 

B. C. 250. . 

. ' " * gave such power and consequence, especially after the strong 
city of Corinth had placed itself at the head of the confederation, that 
he was enabled to assume the supreme power over Peloponnesus, and 
even over the whole of Greece. This excited the jealousy of Sparta, 
where, just at that time, two high-spii*ited kings, Agis III. and Cledmenes, 
were endeavoring to restore the ancient strength and military virtue. 
For since the Spartans had decided that one person might become the 
proprietor of numerous estates, the whole of the land had gradually got 
into the possession of a few rich families, Avho governed the state by 
choosing the ephori from among themselves. The remainder of the citi- 



64 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

zens possessed neither rights nor property, and were in debt to the rich. 
The two kings sought to remedy these evils by abolishing the office of 
the ephori, by destroying the bonds of the debtors, and by reestablishing 
the laws and customs of Lycurgus. But Agis was dethroned and cruelly 
murdered by his enemies ; and Cledmenes, who by dint of resolution 
succeeded in carrying his objects in Sparta, and then endeavored to 
compel the rest of the Peloponnesian states to acknowledge the Spartan 
supremacy, was defeated in the battle of Sellasia in Arcadia 
by the Achaian league, supported by the Macedonians, and 
found himself compelled to fly to Alexandria ; where he and his faithful 
followers, after being baffled in attempting an insurrection, perished by 
their own daggers. In the same year in which Cledmenes met with his 
death, Sparta was subdued by the valiant Philopoe'men (who had been 
chosen head of the Achaian league after Aratus), and compelled a short 
time after to join the league and abolish entirely the laws of Lycurgus. 
Philopoe'men afterwards fell into the hands of his enemies, during a war 
with the Messenians, and was obliged to drink the cup of poison. After 
the death of this "last of the Greeks," the power of the Achaian league 
declined, so that the Romans were enabled to take possession of the 
whole country without any great effort. 

C. THE PTOLEMIES AND SELEUCID^. 

§ 89. Seleiicus and Ptdlemy were the most fortunate of Alexander's 
successors. The former, after many wars which were attended with 
important results, succeeded in reducing all the countries between the 
Hellespont and the Indus, and founding the Syrian empire of the Seleii- 
cidse. He built the magnificent city of Antioch on the Orontes, and 
Seleiicia on the Tigris. By means of these cities, and forty others, 
erected by himself and his successors, the Greek language and culture 
became more and more predominant in the East ; and from this period, 
Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, were the chief seats of civilization and 
commerce. But this condition of extreme refinement afforded little 
matter for rejoicing. The enormous wealth that flowed into these states 
produced luxury, effeminacy, and sensuality ; indolence enervated the 
people, and produced a servile spirit, which displayed itself by the most 
abject adulation of oppressive rulers. Sanguinary crimes, the empire of 
women and favorites, universal reprobation and corruption of morals, are 
the prominent features in the history of the Seleiicidae, of whom Antio- 
chus III., surnamed the Great, is the best known, as well by his expedi- 
tion into India, as from his unfortunate contest with the Romans. Under 
raonarchs so weak and abandoned as these, it was no difficult matter for 
enterprising men to establish small independent states. The most cele- 
brated of these were the kingdom of Pergamus in Asia Minor, and that 
of the Parthians on the north-east of the Euphrates. 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 65 

The Egyptians under the Ptolemies were in a similar position. The 
three first kings established a large naval and military force, by means 
of which they enlarged their empire on all sides. Trade and commerce 
produced wealth ; the science of government and taxation was brought 
to a high degree of perfection. Alexandria became the seat of the com- 
merce of the world, and the centre of Greek art, literature, and civiliza- 
tion ; the world-renowned museum, with its extensive libraxy and 
residences for poets and men of learning, was connected with the royal 
palace. But the men who were the producers of all this prosperity were, 
like the royal family itself, aliens — Greeks and Jews. The glory of 
the Ptolemaic dynasty was of short duration, for the civilization of Alex- 
andria had no root among the people. It was an exotic plant that em- 
bellished the surface, but left the soil unchanged. The court of Alexan- 
dria was not less distinguished by cruelty, debauchery, and corruption of 
morals, than by its splendor, wealth, and refinement. 

d. THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 

§ 90. Judse'a was for a long time an object of contention between the 
SeleucidtE and the Ptolemies. The latter were the first to take posses- 
sion of the land and to render it tributary ; but they suifered the old 
institutions to remain, and allowed the high priest, with the council of 
seventy (Sanhedrim), to manage the affairs of religion and the internal 
government. Many of the Jews settled in Alexandria, where they ac- 
quired wealth and power, but gradually lost the language, manners, and 
religion of their own country, or mingled them with those of the Greeks. 

The translation of the Hebrew text of the Bible into Greek, 
B. c. 284. 

which was executed at the instigation of the second of the 

Ptolemies, by seventy-two Alexandrian Jews (hence called the Septua- 
gint), was afterwards extremely serviceable to the propagation of Chris- 
tianity. 

Judai'a was subjected to the Seleucidae by the Syrian king Antiochus 
III. (the Great), and grievously oppressed with taxes. His second suc- 
cessor, Antiochus Epiphanes, plundered the temple in Jerusalem of its 
treasures, and even entertained the purpose of destroying the Jewish 
institutions and the worship of Jehovah, and substituting the Greek 
idolatry in its place. To this project the Jews offered an obstinate resist- 
ance, and by this means drew a severe persecution on themselves. "When 
this persecution was carried beyond all endurable limits, the people rose 
in desperation against their oppressors, and under the command of the 
high priest, Mattathias, and his five heroic sons (Maccabees), 
encountered the Syrians with courage and success. The 
eldest son, Judas Maccabae^us, enforced a peace, which granted the 
reestablishment of the Jewish worship. His brother Simon 
freed Judse'a from the Syrian yoke, and reigned wisely and 
6* 



66 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

righteously as prince and high priest. Under his successors, the limits of 
the kingdom were enlarged, and the Idumos'ans (Edomites) induced to 
accept the Jewish law. But internal dissensions, and the hatred of sects, 
soon again impaired the strength of the people. The Pharisees, who 
held firmly to the prophets and the law of Moses, attributed great merit 
to the accurate observance of trifling precepts and outward ceremonies, 
and fell by this means into hypocrisy and false righteousness ; the Saddu- 
cees were less severe in their interpretation of the Mosaic laws, and 
attempted to bring them into accordance with the morals, doctrine, and 
way of thinking of the Greeks ; the Essenes lived together in brother- 
hoods, who had all their possessions in common, and served God by acts 
of penance and works of charity. The weakness produced by the mutual 
hostility of these sects at length brought the Jewish race under the domi- 
nion of the Romans. The last of the Milccabees was slain by Herod the 
Iduma3'an, who thereupon ascended the throne of David by the assistance 
of the Romans, and ruled over Judae'a as tributary king (Tetrarch). For 
the purpose of conciliating the Jews, who hated him as a foreigner, he 
enlarged and beautified the temple of Solomon ; but towards the end of 
his reign, suspicion caused him to degenerate into a bloodthirsty tyrant, 
who even attempted the life of that Jesus of Nazareth who was sent into 
the world to redeem the lost race of man. 

C. THE STATE OP CIVILIZATION DURING THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD. 

§ 91. By the conquests of Alexander and his successors, the Grecian 
arts and refinements were diffused over the greatest part of the old world, 
and a high amount of civilization in consequence produced. The great 
increase of commerce and intercourse among all nations was favorable to 
the spread of this civilization. But the inward strength was weakened 
by the outward diffusion. Nothing worthy of notice was produced in 
poetry, except the Idyls, in which Theocritus the Sicilian 
describes a pastoral life full of innocence and simplicity, and 
a few dramatic compositions which are now lost. History and oratory 
were far behind the splendid examples of an earlier period. Learning, 
and the practical sciences, which are based on experience and inquiry, 
attained, on the other hand, to a great degree of perfection. Learned 
critics and grammarians arranged and illustrated the works of the older 
Greek writers ; natural history and mathematics, geography and astro- 
nomy, of which the elements alone had previously existed, were now 
Euclid, greatly advanced. Euclid, a contemporary of the first 

B. c. 280. Ptolemy, composed a text-book of geometry that was em- 
Archimedes, ployed in education for centuries; Archimedes of Syracuse 
B. c. 212. gained imperishable renown by his discoveries in mechani- 
cal and physical science ; and the art of medicine, that had been first 
established on a scientific basis by Hippocrates, was considerably extended 



HISTORY OF GREECE. 67 

by the Alexandrian physicians. But philosophy was the subject that 
received the greatest attention. As Paganism in its corruption aftbrded 
no rest to the soul, and no support in life, men sought for refuge in the 
pursuit of wisdom. The precepts of the philosophei's of an earlier pei'iod 
were expanded and applied to the regulation of life. In this way arose 
the schools of philosophy, some of which reposed on the doctrines of Plato 
and Aristotle, and others were originated by the disciples of Socrates and 
other wise men. The Stoics and the Epicureans became the most dis- 
tinguished of these philosophical sects. ■ Socrates had especially taught, 
that happiness was the end of existence. His scholar Antisthenes be- 
lieved that the surest way of attaining this happiness was to renounce all 
pleasures, and taught that moderation, abstinence, and a freedom from 

_. wants, were the highest objects of human exertion. His 

Diogenes. o j 

disciple Diogenes carried these doctrines to the greatest 

excess : he lived in a tub, deprived himself voluntarily of property and^ 
all the pleasures of life, and by this " heroism of abstinence," excited the 
admiration of the great Alexander. This school was called the Cynic, 
from the place in which Antisthenes taught; and in allusion to this, Di6- 
genes received the sumame of kuon (hound), because the wretched and 
joyless life he led seemed fitter for a dog than a human being. This 
doctrine in a more noble form constitutes the basis of the Stoic philoso- 
phy, which was taught by Zeno, a contemporary of Alexan- 
der, in the porticoes (stoa) of Athens. According to his 
teaching, man only attains felicity by bearing with invincible indifference 
all the changes and chances of life, — joy and grief, misfortune or happi- 
ness : this is his duty the rather, that every thing is determined on before- 
hand by an eternal natural necessity or fate. In opposition to this view, 

. . . another disciple of Socrates, Aristippus of Cyrene, main- 

Anstippus. . .^ . ^ , . \, V 

tamed the enjoyment ot life as his chief principle, and taught 

the art of wisely mingling together sensual and intellectual pleasures. 

This art of enjoyment was erected by one of his scholars, Epicurus, into 

a system that numbered many adherents. Whilst, however, Epicurus 

made happiness to consist in a freedom fi'om all painful and distressing 

emotions, his followers overstepped the bounds of moderation, placed 

luxury and the gratification of the appetites as the ends of existence, and 

rendered Epicurism the philosophy of effeminacy and excess. 



68 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



C. HISTORY OF ROME. 

THE RACES AND INSTITUTIONS OF ANCIENT ITALY. 

§ 92. The beautiful peninsula which is bounded on the north by the 
Alps, surrounded on the east, west, and south by the Mediterranean, and 
traversed throughout its whole length by the Appenines, was formerly 
inhabited by numerous races of men of different origin. Upper Italy, 
on either bank of the Po (Padus), was the dwelling-place of the Gallic 
race, who were divided into many tribes and states, and possessed numer- 
ous cities, both in the fertile plains and on the sea-coast. Central Italy 
was inhabited by many small tribes, a part of which had dwelt in the 
land from time immemorial, and might be looked upon as the aborigines 
of the country ; whilst others had wandered thither from abroad. To the 
latter class belonged the remarkable family of the Etruscans, to the for- 
mer the sturdy race of the Sabclli, who were again divided into numer- 
ous warlike and freedom-loving tribes, among wliom the Samnites, the 
Sablnes, and the ^qui, were the most distinguished. The Latins, a 
powerful rustic tribe on the south of the Tiber, were a mixed race, com- 
posed of natives and immigrants, to which, after the conquest of Troy, a 
Trojan race, under the conduct of JEmas, is said to have united itself. 
The coast of Lower Italy was covered with Greek colonies ; the inland 
parts were the seat of warlike tribes of Sabelline origin, Samnites, Cam- 
panians, Lucani. Campania, with its vineyards and cornfields, is one 
of the most beautiful and fertile spots on the globe, and was chosen 
accordingly by the Romans for the erection of their magnificent villas. 
Of all these races, that of the Etruscans is the most worthy of remark. 
They formed a confederation of twelve independent cities, of which Ctere, 
Tarquinii, and Pelusium, in the neighborhood of the Trasimenian lake, 
Clusium, and Veii, are the best known. The separate cities were 
governed by an aristocratic priesthood. These nobles (Lucumos) 
elected the head of the confederation, the insignia of whose oflSce were 
an ivory chair, a purple mantle, and axes inclosed in bundles of rods 
(fasces), such as were afterwards borne before the Roman consuls. The 
Etruscans were a religious people, and paid great observance to predic- 
tions dei'ived from the sacrifice of anima - (auspices), and the flight of 
birds (auguries). They were proficient ii he art of founding, and in 
working earth and metals, and their skill in architecture is attested by 
the existing remains of gigantic walls, and the ruins of temples, dykes, 
roads, (fee. The innumerable vessels of clay and cinerary urns (Etruscan 
vases), ornamented with paintings, which are dug out of the earth, are 
evidence of the diligence of the Etruscans in arts and manufactures. 



HISTORY OF ROME. 69 

But the oppressive power of the aristocracy, which proved destructive to 
the freedom and energy of the middle and lower classes, was the occasion 
of the early decay and extinction of the arts of culture among the people. 
The Siiblnes, Samnites, and other tribes of Sabelline origin, led a simple 
and temperate life in open or only slightly-fortified towns. They loved 
the pastoral life, agriculture, and war, and looked upon their freedom as 
their greatest blessing. From time to time, they celebrated a sacred 
spring, during which the newly-born cattle were oifered in sacrifice ; and 
the children who came into the world in the course of the year, left their 
country as colonists, on arriving at the age of twenty. 

The Latins dwelt in thirty cities, which were united together in a con- 
federation, of which Alba Longa was the head. Agriculture and civil 
freedom flourished among them ; their religion was founded upon the 
worship of nature, and bore a relation to the cultivation of the soil. The 
seed-god Saturn, and his spouse Ops (the abundance flowing from the 
earth), were among their deities. The venerable goddess Vesta, whose 
sacred and perpetual fire was watched by twelve virgins (Vestals), was 
also one of the native deities of the Latins. The representatives of the 
union held their meetings in a wood on the Albanian hill. 



I. ROME UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF KINGS AND 

PATRICIANS. 

I. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 

§ 93. "We are told by an old legend, that king Numitor of Alba Longa, 
a successor of the Trojan .apneas, (§ 37), was deprived of his crown by 
his brother Amulius, and his daughter Rhtea Silvia placed among the 
sacred virgins of Vesta, that she might remain unmarried and without 
oflfspring. But when she bore the twins Romulus and Remus, to the god 
Mars, her cruel uncle commanded the children to be exposed on the 
banks of the Tiber, where, however, they were discovered and brought 
up by shepherds. Informed by an accident of the mystery of their birth 

B c 753 ^"*^ *^® ^^^^ °^ *^^^^^" grandfather, they restored the throne of 

Alba Longa to Numitor, and then founded Rome on the 
Palatine hill, on the left bank of the Tiber. The rising wails of the city 
are said to have been stained by the blood of Remus, who was slain in a 
quarrel, by his brother. 

Romulus, § 94. When the little town was built, Romulus attracted 

B. c. 730. inhabitants, by declaring it a place of refuge for fugitives. 
But as the fugitives had no wives, and the neighboring people hesitated 
to give them their daughters in marriage, Romulus arranged some mili- 



70 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

fary games, and invited the neiglij^ors as spectators. At a given signal, 
every Koman seized upon a Sabine virgin, and carried her off into the 
city. This outrage gave rise to a war between tlie Sabines and tlie new 
colony. The two armies were already opposed to each other, when the 
abducted virgins rushed between the combatants, and put an end to the 
strife, by declaring that they would share the fate of the Romans. A 
treaty was arranged, in consequence of which the Sabines, who dwelt on 
the Capitoline hill, agreed to unite themselves in a single community with 
the Latins, who lived on the Palatine, and the Etruscans, who inhabited 
the C^lian hill: it was decided further, that the Sabine king, Titus 
Tcitius, should share the government with Romulus ; and that a Latin 
and a Sabine should be elected alternately from the senate to the office 
of king. Romulus disappeared from the earth in an unknown manner, 
and received divine honors under the name of Quin'nus. The citi- 
zens from this time bore the name of Quirites, conjointly with that of 
Romans. 

Nujna § ^^' ^^^^ warlike Romulus was succeeded by the wise 

Porapilius, Sabine, Numa Pompilius, who reduced the rising state to or- 
B. c. /OO. jjgj. jjy. i^jg j.^^^,g j^,-|j religious institutions, and improved and 
civilized the inhabitants. He built temples, and established a form of 
religious worship, increased the number of priests, and made regulations 
respecting sacrifices and divinations. He dedicated a temple at the en- 
trance of the forum to Janus Bifrons, the god who presides over the 
beginning of every thing, both in time and space : the doors of this 
temple were open in time of war, and closed during peace. As the 
Greeks confirmed their laws by the means of oracles, so Numa main- 
tained that he had derived his system of religion from conversations with 
the nymph Egeria, who had a wood sacred to her on the south of Rome. 
B. c. 650. § 96. The two following kings, Tullus Hostilius the Latin, 

B. c. 625. and Ancus Martins the Sabine, enlarged the territory of the 
little state by successful wars ; so that four other hills were added to the 
three before mentioned, and gradually supplied with inhabitants. For 
this reason, Rome is called the seven-hilled city. Under Tullus Hostilius 
the Romans engaged in a war with Alba Longa. Just as the armies 
were about to engage, it was agreed to decide the fate of the two cities 
by a combat between three brothers, the Horatii and the Curiatii, chosen 
from each of the parties. Two of the champions of the Romans had 
already fallen, when the victory was decided in their favor by the cunning 
and bravery of the third, and the possession of Alba Longa fell at once 
into their hands. The city was destroyed, and the inhabitants trans- 
planted to Rome. The same fortune happened to many other cities in 
the neighborhood, during the reign of Ancus Martins. The conquered 
citizens settled in Rome, where they received houses and small estates, 
but were not admitted to the privileges of the elder citizens. The latter, 



HISTORY OF ROME. 71 

from this time, were called " patricians," the new-comers bore the name 

of " plebeians." Ancus Martius founded the sea-port of Ostia, at the 

mouth of the Tiber. 

§ 97. The last three kings, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and 

Tarqumius Superbus, belonged to the Etruscan race, as is evident from 

the buildings they erected, and the Etruscan institutions they introduced 

into Rome. The elder Tarn u in laid the foundation of the 
B. c. 600. ,>,/-,. i,.i ,1,,. 

vast structure ot the bapitol, which was completed by his 

son Tarquinius Superbus, in accordance with his father's design. It con- 
sisted of a citadel and a magnificent temple. He constructed, in addition, 
the enormous cloacas (sewers), built of freestone, for the draining of the 
city, the Circus Maximus, and the Forum. 

After the murder of Tarquin by the sons of his predecessor, his son- 
in-law Servius Tullius ascended the throne. He orijrinated 
s c 650 

two measures that were followed by important consequences. 

First, he divided the plebeians in the city and its vicinity into thirty 
•tribes, with their own overseers and assemblies ; he then divided the en- 
tire population of the slate, according to their property, into five classes, 
and these again into hundreds, in order to facilitate the collection of im- 
posts and the arrangement of military service. By these means, the 
rich obtained greater privileges, coupled however with the condition of 
serving as heavy-armed troops without pay, and at their own expense. 
A sixth class, which included the proletaries (persons without property), 
were exempt from taxes and military service, but were also excluded 
from all political rights. By tliese measures, Servius Tullius brought 
upon himself the hate of the patricians, and was in consequence murdered 
by his son-in-law, Tarquinius Superbus, with their assistance. 

§ 98. Tarquinius Superbus enlarged the boundaries of the 

E. C. 533. . . 

state by successful wars with the Latins, whom he united in 

a confederacy under the direction of Rome; he completed 
B. C. 500. . 

the Capitol, and ordered the collection of ancient oracles, 

called the Sibylline books, to be preserved there ; he founded the first 
colony in the neighboring country of the Volscians, for the purpose of ex- 
tending the power of Rome. But despite all these services, he rendered 
himself odious to the patrician party by attempting to extend the limited 
kingly authority. His acts of violence against the senate and the patri- 
cians, and the severe imposts and soccage duties with which he visited 
the plebeians, produced general discontent, which finally burst into rebel- 
lion when it became known in Rome that the outrage which one of the 
king's sons had ofiered to the virtuous Lucretia had di-iven her to self- 
destruction. Two relatives of the royal house, Lucius Tarquinius Colla- 
ti'nus, the husband of Lucretia, and Junius Brutus, were the leaders of 
the insurrection. Upon receiving information of what was taking place, 
the king, who was just then occupied in the siege of the ancient seaport 



72 



THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



of Ardea, hastened to Rome with his army, for the purpose of suppress- 
ing the tumult ; but he found the gates closed against him, and being 
deposed from the throne by a vote of the popular assembly, and finding 
himself deserted by his army, he and his sons were obliged to retire into 
banishment. 



2. ROME AS A REPUBLIC UNDER THE PATRICIANS. 
a. nORATIUS COCLES. THE TRIBUNES. CORIOLANUS. 

§ 99. After the banishment of the royal family, the supreme power in 
Rome fell into the hands of the senate. They confirmed the laws that 
were passed in the assemblies of the people, and proposed the officers 
that it was the province of the commons to elect. Instead of a king, two 
consuls were chosen every year, who ruled the state, superintended the 
administration of justice, and, in time of war, led the army to the field. 
The patricians alone could be chosen to these or any other offices. 

The young republic had severe conflicts to sustain both within and 
from without. Under the first consuls, a number of young Romans of 
patrician family entered into a conspiracy, for the purpose of bringing 
back the banished royal family. When this was discovered, the inflexible 
Brutus punished the offenders, among whom were two of his own sons, 
with death. From without, the Romans were threatened with the most 
imminent danger, by the Etruscan king Porsenna, to whom Tarquin had 
applied for help, and who had taken possession of the hill Janiculum, on 
the right bank of the Tiber. The Romans were repulsed in an attempt 
to drive him from this position, and were only saved by the valor of 
Horatius Codes, who defended the wooden bridge that crossed the river. 
After the Romans had secured themselves and destroyed the bridge, 
Codes sprang into the sti'eam, armed and weaponed as he was, and swam 
safely to the opposite shore. Another Roman, Miitius Scas'vola, pene- 
trated into the Etruscan camp for the purpose of killing the king. He 
made a mistake, however, and stabbed the royal secretary. When Por- 
senna, upon this, endeavored by threats to terrify him into a confession, 
Mutius, to show that he feared neither pain nor death, laid his right hand 
in the midst of a fire that was burning on an altar. It was from this cir- 
cumstance that he received the name of Sca3'vola (left hand). Astonished 
at such a proof of courage and patriotism, Porsenna made a peace with 
the Romans, and withdi-cw his forces. The Romans were however 
obliged to relinquish a third part of their lands, and to give hostages. The 
Veians also, and the confederation of the Latins, took the field in support 
of the Tarquins. Brutus, the founder of the republic, and Aruns Tar- 



HISTORY OF ROME. 73 

quinius, encountered in the battle, and fell by the hands of each other. 
It was in the war against the Latins that the Romans for the first time 
appointed a dictator, an officer who was superior to the consuls, and who 
possessed unlimited power both in the city and the field. It Avas only in 
times of the greatest distress and danger that such a dictator was ap- 
pointed, and he relinquished his extraordinary office as soon as the neces- 
sity for it ceased to exist. 

§ 100. When Tarquin found that all the attempts to regain possession 
of his throne had miscarried, he retired to Cumoe, in Lower Italy, where 
he died. The patricians now governed the state, and op- 
pressed the plebeians by their severe laws of debtor and 
creditor. They (the plebeians) were obliged to pay ground-rent for 
their small properties, to perform military service without pay, and to 
provide their own arms and accoutrements. When they were engaged 
in war, their lands were left untilled at home : bad harvests brought 
poverty, and for the sake of escaping from the temporary pressure, they 
incurred debts with the wealthy patricians. If the plebeian failed in pay- 
ing the large interest (10 or 12 per cent.) the moment it became due, his 
person and estate were seized upon by his creditor, he was reduced to 
the condition of a serf, and his family were left to starve. When this 
state of things became intolerable, and there was no law to protect the 
unfortunate debtor against his merciless creditor, the ple- 
beians resolved upon quitting Rome, and building a new 
town upon the sacred hill, about a league and a half from the city. The 
patricians sent Menenius Agrippa after them, to induce them to return. 
He explained to them the disadvantages that were likely to arise from 
their dissensions, by relating the fable of the quarrel between the stomach 
and the limbs, and the danger the whole body was reduced to in conse- 
quence, and promised them a redress of their grievances. The plebeians 
allowed themselves to be persuaded, and obtained on their return at first 
five, and afterwards ten, tribunes. These were accounted sacred and in- 
violable whilst they were in office : they possessed the powder of placing 
their veto upon any resolution of the senate or decree of the consuls, 
which appeared injurious to the interests of the people ; and if this was 
not sufficient, they could prevent the levies of troops and the collection 
of taxes. 

Shortly after this, a famine broke out in Rome ; and when at last ships 
arrived from Sicily with corn, the haughty patrician, Marcius Coriohinus, 
proposed that none should be yielded to the people till they had consented 
to the dismissal of their tribunes. Upon this the peojile, in their as- 
sembly, passed a sentence of banishment uj^on Coriolanus. 
and compelled him to fly. Thirsting for vengeance, he be- 
took himself to the Volscians, and persuaded them to make an inroad 
under his command upon the Roman territories. They had already pene- 

7 



74 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

trated in their destructive course to within five miles of Rome, when 
their general was prevailed upon to retreat by the united prayers of his 
wife and mother. Coriolanus is said to have fallen a victim to the rage 
of the Volscians, who nevertheless retained possession of the towns they 
had conquered. 

h. THE FABII. CINCINNATUS. THE DECEMVIKS. 

§ 101. Rome was so weakened by the dissensions between the diffe- 
rent classes, that her foreign foes were able to possess themselves of one 
provincial town after another, and gradually to diminish her territory. 
The plebeians, whose arms were to win the battle, had little pleasure in 
shedding their blood to increase the wealth and power of their oppres- 
sors ; they even willingly allowed themselves to be defeated, when they 
were under the command of one of the rigorous patricians. Such an 
event took place in a war against the people of Veii, when one of the 
Fabii was general. The disgrace was so severely felt by the high-spirit- 
ed family of Fabius, that they deserted their own party, and making 
common cause with the plebeians, proceeded together to attack the Vei- 
ans, but were all ensnared in an ambuscade, and died like heroes. One 
only, who had not arrived at years of maturity, survived the destruction 
of his race. Whilst the Veians were attacking the Roman territory on 
the north, the Volsci and -^qui made inroads no less destructive on the 
south. The latter of these tribes, whose possessions extended as far as 
Prosneste, but a few miles from Rome, once attacked the Romans at 

mount Algidus, with such success, that the latter were 
S. C. 458. 1 T . , . -. , , 

surrounded in tneir camp, ana must have been taken prison- 
ers if Cincinnatus had not come to their rescue. When the senate were 
informed of the danger the army was in, they appointed the patrician 
Cincinnatus dictator. Cincinnatus was so reduced in his circumstances 
by misfortunes, that he possessed nothing but a small estate on the right 
bank of the Tiber, which he was tilling with his own hands, Avhen the 
summons of the senate was brought to him. lie at once quitted the 
plough, hastened to the place of danger with the Roman youth that 
assejnbled themselves about him, and surrounded the ^qui in the night. 
When these, awakened in the following morning by a great shout, saw 
the situation they were in, they were compelled to surrender themselves 
prisoners of war, and, after giving up their arms, to pass under a yoke 
formed of three spears. 

§ 102. The plebeians waged a hot contest with the patricians for an 
equality of rights. They demanded, above all, an agrarian law, a writ- 
ten code, and a share of the public offices. 

The Roman state was in possession of large tracts of land, which 
were not the exclusive property of any one, but the use of which had 
been granted to the patricians, upon condition that a tenth part of the 



HISTORY OF ROME. 75 

produce should be paid to the state. This common larfd (ager pnlUcus) 

the patricians looked upon as their own, had it cultivated by their clients, 

and mutually overlooked each other's remissness when the stipulated 

duty did not find its way to the treasury. The plebeians demanded from 

time to time an agrarian law, by wdiich a portion of these common 

lands should be surrendered to them. But as often as the application 

was made, it was encountered by a most decided resistance. The consul 

Sp. Cassius, w^ho moved the first agrarian law, was thrown from the 

Tarpeian rock of the capitol, and the place where his house had stood 

remained empty and desolate. 

§ 103. The administration of the law was exclusively in the hands 

of the patricians, who gave judgment and pronounced decisions according 

to custom and unwritten traditionary rules, and were thus frequently 

guilty of arbitrariness and partiality. The plebeians, to escape from 

these evils, demanded a fixed and written code, but experienced a violent 

resistance from the patricians. After many stormy debates, the tribunes 

of the people were at last successful in having envoys sent to Grrecia 

Ma2:na and Athens, to examine the laws, and to select those 
B. c. 452. 

that should appear suitable. When these envoys returned, 

both parties agreed that all the officers of government (consuls, tribunes, 
&c.) should give up their places ; and that ten patricians should be 
appointed with absolute power, and commissioned to draw up fresh laws. 
At first, the new officers, who, from their number, were called " decemvirs," 
performed the task committed to them in an exemplary manner, and at 
the end of the year, their laws gave so much satisfaction to the assembly 
of the people, that the decemvirate was allowed to continue another 
year, for the completion of its work. But now the ten patricians abused 
their authority by violent and arbitrary measures ; they proceeded 
against their plebeian opponents by fine, imprisonment, banishment, and 
the axe of the executioner ; when a war broke out with the ^qui and 
Volscians, they put to death an ancient plebeian hero in the field ; and 
continued themselves in office by their own power, after the second year 
had passed, and the compilation of the laws of the Twelve Tables had 
been completed. The general discontent was fanned into revolt by a 
licentious outrage of Appius Claudius, the most illustrious of the decem- 
virs. This man had conceived a passion for the beautiful Virginia, 
daughter of one of the plebeian leaders, and the bride of another. In 
order to gain possession of her, he instructed one .of his adherents to 
declare the maiden to be one of his runaway slaves, and to claim her as 
his property before the judgment-seat of the decemvirs. Appius Clau- 
dius heard the claim in the forum, in the presence of a great multitude of 
the people ; but scarcely had he, by his decision, put Virginia into the 
power of the appellant, when her father hastened to the spot and plung- 
ed a knife into her heart. The plebeians now seized upon the Aventine 



76 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

Mil, and insisted Vy-ith threats upon the expulsion of the decemvirs and 
the restoration of the old system. They obtained both : Appius Claudius 
destroyed himself in prison, another of the decemvirs was executed, and 
the rest expiated their crimes by perpetual exile. The laws of the 
Twelve Tables, however, remained in operation, and became the basis of 
the Roman code. 

§ 104. Shortly after this, the jilebeians succeeded in having it 
enacted, that the two classes might contract lawful marriages 
with each other, without the children of such unions forfeit- 
ing any of the privileges of their class ; and they at length proceeded to 
claim a participation in the consulate. But this demand was resisted by 
the patricians with their whole strength ; and when, at last, the plebeians 
prevented the raising of levies for military service, they declared that 
they would rather have no more consuls than agree to the admission of 
the plebeians to the office. At length it was arranged, that three or four 
military tribunes, with the authority of consuls, should be 
chosen every year from both classes, as leaders of the army 
and chief magistrates. This arrangement lasted for some centuries. 
But it occasionally happened that the patrician party gained the upper 
hand, and then consuls Avould be again elected for a few years, or the 
office of military tribune would remain unfilled. To make amends for 
their loss, the patricians instituted the office of censors. These, two in 
number, had the keeping of the lists in which every Roman was entered, 
according to his property, as senator, knight, or citizen; they superintend- 
ed the building of temples, streets, and bridges, and exercised a censorial 
supervision, by virtue of which they might deprive men of vicious lives 
of the privileges of their class. 

C. THE TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS (b. C. 389), AND THE 
LAWS OF LICINIUS STOLO (b.. C. 36G). 

§ 105. Whilst these struggles were going on within the city, the 
Roman army was successfully engaged against the enemy. Since the 
regulation that the citizens should receive pay during war, the troops 
could continue longer in the field. After extending their territories on 
the south, they turned their whole force against the Etruscans, and, under 
the command of Camillus, subdued, after a sieire of ten 

B. C. 396. 

years, the hostile city of Veii, the inhabitants of which were 
either killed or reduced to slavery. The haughty genei'al, who had drawn 
upon himself the hati'ed of the plebeians by his splendid triumph and une- 
qual distribution of the booty, withdrew voluntarily into exile when sum- 
moned by the tribunes of the people to answer for his conduct, and by 
this means deprived the stale of his aid at the very moment it was most 
required. 

§ 106. For it was about this time that the Gauls, in the neighborhood 



HISTORY OF ROME. 77 

of the Po, crossed the Apennines and laid siege to the Etruscan city of 
Clusium. The inhabitants turned for assistance to the Romans, who, 
however, contented themselves with sending an embassy to effect a re- 
conciliation. When this failed of success, the ambassadors took part in the 
contest, and killed one of the leaders of the Gallic array. This outrage 
of the rights of nations inflamed the anger of the Gauls. They left 
Clusium, advanced by rapid marches upon Eome, and gave the force 
sent to oppose them so complete an overthrow at the river Allia, that 
only a few fugitives saved themselves across the Tiber in Veil ; and the 
day of the battle was ever after distinguished by a black mark in the 
Roman Calendar, and observed, as a time of fasting and prayer. Rome 
itself, after being deserted by the women and children, fell without 
resistance into the hands of the enemy. The Gauls burnt the empty 
city to the ground, slaughtered about eighty old men in the forum, who 
were desirous of devoting themselves as expiatory sacrifices, and then 
laid siege to the Capitol, whither those who were capable of bearing 
arms had withdrawn themselves. The garrison, however, under the 
command of the heroic Marcus Manlius, making a gallant resistance, and 
the i-anks of the Gauls being thinned by sickness and hunger, a treaty 
was entered into, after the siege had continued seven months, by which 
the Gauls consented to withdraw themselves upon being paid a ransom 
of a thousand pounds weight of gold. It is well known how their inso- 
lent leader, Brennus, increased the stipulated amount by the weight of 
his sword, which he cast into the scale. The story of the banished 
CamiUus pursuing the retreating enemy with a troop of fugitive Romans, 
and again recovering the spoil from them, is d6ubted, and may be 
attributed, not without reason, to Roman vanity. 

§ 107. After the retreat of the enemy, the Romans were so dispirited 
that they had not courage to rebuild their city, but wished to settle them- 
selves in the empty town of Veil. It was only with difficulty that the 
patricians prevented the execution of this project, and that no similar 
purpose might again be entertained, the houses in Veil were given up to 
the people to be pulled down. Scarcely had Rome been hastily rebuilt 
with narrow and crooked streets, and small dwelling-houses, when the 
patricians again asserted the whole of their claims, and in particular re- 
vived the ancient laws of debtor and creditor in all their ancient severity. 
The preserver of the capitol, M. Manlius (Capitolinus), took the part of 
the oppressed and impoverished plebeians ; but incurred the enmity of 
those of his own order to such an extent by doing so, that, under the 
frivolous pretext that he was attempting to gain the kingly power, he 
was condemned to death, and thereupon cast from the Tarpeian rock, his 
house levelled with the ground, and his memory declared 
B. c. 383. infamous. But this severity against the friend of the people 
roused the plebeians from their apathy. Two bold and able tribunes, 

7* 



78 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

Licinius Stolo and L, Sextius, proposed the three followhig laws: — 
1. Consuls shall be again chosen, but one of them shall always be a ple- 
beian. 2. No citizen shall hold more than 500 acres of public land in lease ; 
the remainder shall be distributed in small portions, among the plebeians 
as their own property. 3. The interest already paid upon debts shall be 
deducted from the capital sum, and the residue shall be paid in the 
course of three years. 

These proposals were resisted to the utmost by the patricians, for the 
space of ten years ; but all their efforts proved unavailing against the 
firmness of the tribunes, who prevented the election of officers and the 
military levies. Tiie proposals became laws, and the privileges of the 
patricians received a severe shock. It is true that they still retained 
exclusive possession of the priesthood and certain other dignities ; but in 
the course of a few decades, the plebeians were admitted to these offices 
also, so that a perfect equality between the two classes shortly followed. 
This civil concord, to which Camillus a short time before his death 
dedicated a temple, brought with it a period of civic virtue and heroic 
greatness. 



11. HOME'S HEROIC PERIOD. 

1. THE TIME OF THE WAK WITH THE SAMNITES, AND THE BATTLES 

WITH PYRRHUS. 

§ 108. After the Eomans had exercised their military prowess in some 

successful engagements with the wandering hordes of the Gauls, they 

attempted to subdue the neighboring tribes. Among these the warlike 

and freedom-loving Samnites, who dwelt amidst the lofty ridges of the 

Apennines, gave them the greatest trouble, and they were forced to carry 

on the war against them, almost without intermission, for more than 

seventy years. The inhabitants of Capua and the Campanian plain, who 

were unable to withstand the hostile attacks of the warlike Samnites, and 

who turned to the Romans for assistance, were the occasion of the war. 

At first, the Romans refused them assistance ; but the Capuans having 

recognized their authority, and placed themselves entirely under their 

protection, they marched into the field and defeated the enemy with 

great courage, at Cumre, near Mount Gaurus. 

§ 109. Shortly after this, the Romans found themselves 
B c 342 

menaced with a war by the Latins, who had hitherto been 

their allies. These were no longer disposed to recognize Rome as the 
head of the confederation, but required a share in the senate, the consul- 
ate, and all offices. Upon this, the Romans, who were not inclined to 



HISTORY OF ROME. 79 

yield to tliese demands, concluded a hasty peace and alliance with the 
Siimnites, that they might turn their arms against the nearer 
enemy. When the army was at the foot of Vesuvius, the 
consul Manlius Torquatus forbade any skirmishing. In defiance of this 
command, his valiant son made an excursion against the enemy, and 
overcame them, but was condemned to death for disobedience by his in- 
flexible father. The battle of Vesuvius was determined in 
favor of the Romans by the patriotism of the plebeian con- 
sul, Decius Mus, who, having had himself devoted to death by a priest, 
enveloped himself in a white robe, and, mounting on horseback, plunged 
among the thickest of the enemy ; whereupon the Latins, together with 
their neighbors, the Volsci, ^qui, and Hernici, submitted themselves, 
and were received, with different privileges, as the allies of the Romans. 
In this capacity, they were obliged to perform miiitary service in the 
Roman army. 

§ 110. The success of the Romans awakened the jealousy of the Sam- 
nltes. Quarrels respecting boundaries led to a renewal of 
hostilities, in which the Romans at first had the advantage, 
till the imprudent advance of the consuls, Vetiirius and Posthiimius, into 
the Caudinian passes, brought the army into such a desperate position, 
that it was obliged to surrender to the hostile general, Pontius, who had 
surrounded it on every side, and after giving up its weapons, to pass 
ignominiously under the yoke. The senate, however, with an unworthy 
equivocation, declared the treaty that their generals had concluded in 
their necessity with Pontius to be invalid, and delivered up the consuls, 
at their own request, in chains to the Samnites. The generals who suc- 
ceeded them, especially the vigorous Papi'rius Cursor and Fabius Maxi- 
mus, strained every nerve to wipe away the disgrace ; and their endeavors 
were crowned with such success, that, after a few years, the Samnites, 
being no longer able to resist the attacks of the Romans, were obliged to 
look around them for assistance. They united themselves with the Um- 
brians, the Gauls, and Etruscans, who were also threatened by Rome's 
love of conquest ; and, for the sake of being closer to their new allies, 

they quitted their own country and marched into Umbria. 
B. C. 295. J I- 'I 

But the battle of Senti'num, which was decided in favor of 

the Romans by the self-oblation of the younger Decius Mus, destroyed 

the last hopes of the allies. Their great general, Pontius, full shortly 

afterwards into the hands of the Romans, and was put to a violent death. 

It was in vain that the sacred band of the Samnites once more tried 

their strength and their swords against the Romans ; Curius Dentatus 

gave them a second overthrow, in which the Samnite yotith, the pride of 

the nation, moistened the field of battle with their blood. The Samnites 

and their confederates, the Umbrians, Etruscans, and the Se- 
B. c. 290. . T ' ' 

nonian Gauls, were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy 

of Rome, and to serve as allies in her army. 



80 THE ANCIENT WOKLD. 

§ 111. During the war with the Samnites, the rich, effeminate, and 
cowardly Tarentines had behaved in an equivocal manner, and insulted 
a Roman ambassador. Scarcely therefore had the Romans completely 
mastered their enemies, than they turned their arms against Lower Italy. 
Hereupon, the Tarentines called the warlike Pyrrhus, king of Epi'rus, to 
their assistance, who eagerly seized this opportunity for conquest and 
military renown, and embarked with his forces for Italy. Pyrrhus was 
victorious in two eno-asements, partly from the admirable 

B. C 281 DC ' I J 

disposition he made of his army, and partly by means of his 
elephants, an animal with which the Romans were unacquainted ; and 
the senate seemed not unwilling to conclude a disadvantageous peace 
with the conqueror, who was marching upon Rome. But the blind Ap- 
pius Claudius opposed this design, and induced the assembly to reply, 
that no proposals for peace could be entertained till Pyrrhus had quitted 
Italy. The admiration of the king, who had hitherto only been acquainted 
with the degenerate manners of the Greeks, was not less excited by the 
wisdom and dignified demeanor of the senate, and the civic virtues, 
honesty, and simplicity of the Roman generals, Fabricius and Curius 
Dentatus, than by the heroism, the bravery, and the warlike skill of the 
legions. 

A short time after, Pyrrhus was called into Sicily by the Syracusans, 
to assist them against the Carthaginians. A love of adventure and con- 
quest induced him to accept the invitation ; but he failed in his plan of 
making himself master of the beautiful island, and was compelled by 
the Sicilian Greeks to return. He again marched towards Tai'entum, 

but suffered such a defeat at Maleventum (afterwards called 

B C 275. 

Beneventum), from Curius Dentatus, that he found himself 

obliged to make a hasty retreat. Pyrrhus fell, a few years afterwards, 

before Argos, a city of Peloponnesus ; and about the same 

time, the Tarentines lost their fleet, and a portion of their 

treasures of art, and were made tributaries by the Romans. The fall of 

Tarentum was followed by the subjugation of the whole of Lower Italy, 

in the course of which the Greek states were treated with peculiar 

severity. 



2. THE TIME OF THE PUNIC WARS. 
a. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. (b. C. 2G3-241.) 

§ 112. Many centuries before, some Phoenician emigrants had founded 
the trading city of Carthage, on the north coast of Africa (§ 14), which 
soon attained to power and opulence by the skill and enterprising spirit 
of its inhabitants. The Carthaginians carried on an extensive traffic 
with all the lands on the coast of the Mediterranean, established tributar ^ 



HISTORY OF ROME. 81 

colonial cities in Sicily and the south of Spain, and acquired such 
wealth, that they laid out the land in the vicinity of their own city 
after the manner of a garden, and embellished it with innumerable mag- 
nificent villas. But civic freedom, mental cultivation, and nobility of 
mind were possessions foreign to the Carthaginians. The government 
was in the hands of a purse-proud aristocracy, art and literature were 
little esteemed, their religious system v/as so barbarous as to permit the 
sacrifice of human victims, and their cunning and falsehood so notorious, 
that the " Punic faith " was proverbial.* Long was the contest between 
the Carthaginians and Syracusans, for the possession of the island of 
Sicily. At the time that the gallant adventurer Agathocles had raised 
himself from the humble condition of a potter to the empire of Syra- 
cuse, this contest was carried on with such changes of fortune, 
B. c. 317. . . 

that Syracuse was besieged by the Carthaginians, and Car- 
thage by the army of Agathocles, at the same time. The latter made 
himself master of the north coast of Africa, and assumed the title of king. 
But a change soon took place : his army was destroyed, and he himself 
obliged to fly secretly to Syracuse, where his vital powers were so wasted 
by a poison that was administered to him, that the hoary tyrant consented 
to his own death by fire. His death gave rise to a state of lawless vio- 
lence in Sicily, owing to his Campanian soldiers (Mamer- 
tlnes) having seized upon the town of Messina on their way 
home, slaughtered or driven away the male part of the inhabitants, and 
then filled the island with robbery and devastation. In this distress, the 
Syracusans elected the valiant Hi'ero for their king. He marched, in con- 
junction with the Carthaginians, against the Mamertlnes, defeated them, 
and laid siege to their city Messina. The Mamertlnes were shortly re- 
duced to such extremities that they applied to the Romans for assist- 
ance. 

§ 113. The Romans did not long hesitate to enter into a defensive 
alliance with the rapacious Mamertlnes, and to gain by this means an op- 
portunity of subjecting the rich and beautiful island, although they saw 
plainly that the jealous Carthaginians, Avho were already in possession of 
the citadel of Messina, would oppose them with all their strength. A 
Roman army shortly after succeeded in driving back the disunited enemy 
from the walls of the city, in bringing Hi'ero into an alliance with Rome, 
and depriving the Carthaginians of the important town of Agrigentum. 
Upon this, the Romans built a fleet after the model of a shipwrecked 
Punic vessel, and won the first naval engagement, by means 

B. C. 261. o r> ' -i ^ 

of the consul Duillius, at Myla3, near the Liparian islands. 
Encouraged by this success, they now determined to deprive the Cartha- 

* It should be remembered, however, especially in reference to this charge of bad faith, 
that most of our knowledge of the Carthaginians is derived from their ancient and invete- 
rate enemies, the Romans. Am, Ed. 



• 



82 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

ginians of their supremacy at sea, and passed over to Africa with a fleet 
and a large army, under the command of the heroic consul Regulus. 
Regulus gradually approached, conquering and devastating, to the gates 
of Carthage. The terrified Carthaginians sued for peace, but when they 
found the conditions offered them by the haughty conqueror too severe, 
they prepared for resistance, increased the number of their mercenary 
troops, and committed the conduct of the defence to an experienced gene- 
ral, the Spartan Xantippus. This leader gave the Romans so severe a 
defeat at the seaport town of Tunes, that only 2,000 of their splendid 
army escaped ; the others were either killed or made prisoners of war, 
together with the consul Regulus. 

§ 114. This blow Avas followed by a succession of misfortunes: two 
fleets were destroyed by tempests, so that, for some years, the Romans 
renounced all thoughts of success by sea ; on land, they only ventured 
upon trifling engagements, from fear of the elephants, of which they 
themselves never made use, though the battle at Tunes had been decided 
by them. In a few years, howevei-, they recovered themselves ; they 
made a successful sally from Pandrmus (Palermo), drove 
back the Cartliaginians, and took possession of all their ele- 
phants. Hereupon the Carthaginians sent Regulus to Rome to negotiate 
an excliange of prisoners, after they had obtained from him an oath, that, 
if not successful, he would return to captivity. Regulus advised the 
senate not to consent to the exchange, on the ground that it would be 
disadvantageous to their country ; and then, true to his oath, retui'ned to 
Carthage. Upon this, the Carthaginians were greatly enraged, and put 
Regulus to death in a most barbarous manner. 

' Victory remained for some years dubious. At length, the admirable 
Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barcas, made himself master of the cita- 
del Eryx, and ovei'looked from a lofty rock all the movements of the 
Romans. But this was only possible so long as there was no Roman 
fleet to prevent the communication with the sea. As soon as 200 ships 
had been fitted out at Rome, by private contributions, and by employing 
the treasures in the temples, and the consul Lutatius Ciitulus 

B. c. 242. 

had defeated the enemy's fleet at the -Slgatian islands, the 
Carthaginians were compelled to consent to a peace, in which they 
renounced their claims upon Sicily, and promised to pay a large sum to 
defray the expenses of the war. 

h. THE SECOND TUNIC WAR. (b. C. 218-202.) 

§ 115. Whilst the Carthaginians, after the peace, were engaged for 

three years in a frightful Avar with their rebellious mercenaries, the 

Romans were enlarging their territory in every direction. 

B. C. 238. . 

Tliey transformed Sicily into the first Roman province ; took 
possession of Corsica and Sardinia after a severe struggle with the semi- 



HISTORY OF ROME. 83 



barbarous inhabitants ; and wrested the island of Corcyra (Corfu) and a 
few maritime towns from the piratical Illyrians. But the liardest con- 
flict they had to sustain was with the Cisalpine Gauls, who, supported by 
their brethren in the Alps, had made a destructive inroad 

B C 222. 

upon Etruria. After the Romans had overthrown their 
brave, but badly-armed enemies, in two bloody engagements, the fertile 
regions on either side of the Po were erected into a Roman province, 
under the name of Gallia Cisalpina, and connected with Rome by two 
military roads. 

§ IIG. In the mean while, the Carthaginians, at first under the com- 
mand of the brave Hamilcar Barcas, and after his death under that of 
the prudent Ilasdrubal, extended their conquests into the richly metal- 
liferous region of South vSpain, and established an admirable military sta- 
tion in New Carthage (Carthagena). This aroused the fear and envy of 
the Romans, and induced them to enter into a defensive alliance with the 
Greek colony of Saguntum, on the north-east coast of Spain. Hasdrubal 
soon died, and his place was supplied by Hamilcar's son, Hannibal, who 
was then twenty -five years of age, and who joined the courage and mili- 
tary talents of his father to the prudence of his predecessor, and who, 
whilst yet a boy, had sworn eternal hatred against the Romans upon the 
paternal altar. Eager to measure himself against the Romans, he laid 
siefje to the confederate town of Saguntum. It was in vain that the 
Roman envoys warned him to desist ; he referred them to the Cartha- 
ginian senate, but in the mean while pressed the town so closely, that he 
took it in eight months. The most resolute of the inhabitants collected 
their goods together in the market-place, set them on fire, and threw 
themselves into the flames ; the others died by the sword of the enemy, 
or beneath the ruins of their houses. Saguntum was reduced to a 
heap of rubbish. The Roman embassj'', when too late, declared war in 
Carthage. 

§ 117. It was in the spring of the year 218 13. c. that Hannibal crossed 
the Ebro, subjected the tribes in that neighborhood; and then, with an 
army of 60,000 men, and thirty-seven elephants, penetrated across the 
Pyrenees into Gaul, whilst his brother Hasdrubal, with an equal number 
of troops, held Spain in subjection. After Hannibal had forced a passage 
through South Gaul and over the Rhone, he commenced his ever-memo- 
rable passage of the Alps (probably by the way of Mount Cenis.) In the 
midst of perpetual contests with the savage inhabitants, the soldiers 
climbed over lofty mountains covered with snow and ice, without road 
and without shelter, — over precipices and gulfs. Nearly half the troops 
and the whole of the beasts of burden were destroyed. But these losses 
were soon replaced, when, after a march of fourteen days, Hannibal 
arrived in Upper Italy. For no sooner was the consul Cornelius Scipio 
defeated and severely wounded, in an affair of cavalry on the Ticinus, and 



84 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

his fellow-consul, the impnulent Seinprdiiius, completely routed at the 

rashly-undertaken battle of Trcbia, than the Cisalpine Gauls joined 

Hannibal's standard. After a short rest in Lifjuria, he 
15. c. 217. 

crossed the rugged Apennines, a most toilsome marcli, (in 

the course of which he lost an eye from inflammation), and continued 
his devastating course into Etriiria. The consul Flaminius encountered 
him at the Lake Trasimenus, but by his inconsiderate rashness sustained 
a total defeat, in which he himself lost his life, and his soldiers were either 
killed or drowned in the Avaters of the lake. The road to Rome was 
now open to the victor ; but he determined upon marching into Apulia, 
for the purpose of inducing the inhabitants of Lower Italy to revolt. 

§ 118. It was at this time, that a man opposed himself to the Cartha- 
ginian general, who, by his prudence and circumspection, occasioned him 
many difficulties, — the dictator Fabius Maximus, the Delayer. He 
avoided an open engagement, but followed the hostile army foot by foot, 
and turned every unfortunate movement to his own advantage. He 
reduced it to such a perilous position in Campania, by taking possession 
of the mountain heights, that Hannibal was only able to save himself by 
an artifice, — driving oxen, with bundles of lighted brushwood tied to 
their horns, up the hill, by which means he deceived the enemy. But 
the discontent of the imprudent people at this lingering mode of warfare, 
induced the consul Terentius Varro, in the following year, again to 
liazard an engagement, against the advice of his colleague, Paulus 

-3i^mflius. Hereupon followed the dreadful defeat of the 
s. c. 216. 

Romans at Cannae, where the number of the slain was so 

great, that Hannibal is said to have sent three bushels of rings to Car- 
thage, which were stripped from the hands of the Roman knights. The 
high-minded Paulus -3Lmilius was found among the slain. The day of 
the battle of Cannte, like that of the defeat at the Allia, (§ 105,) was 
marked in the Roman calendar as a time of prayer and fasting. The 
immovable senate, however, preserved its courage and composure ; all 
who fled at Cannte were declared infamous, and expelled from the 
army. 

§ 119. Hannibal did not consider it advisable to advance at once upon 
Rome with his shattered forces, but established his winter quarters in 
the rich and luxurious city of Capua. But it was here that his rugged 
warriors were rendered effeminate and lost their love of war. The 
Romans, on the other hand, made new preparations with extraordinary 
rapidity, so that, in the spring, they were able to send fresh troops into 
the field, whilst in the mean time Hannibal's army had received no re- 
inforcements from Carthage. Two successful engagements 
restored the courage of the Romans, and put them in a posi- 
tion to chastise the towns of Sicily and Lower Italy, which, after the 
battle of Cannfe, had revolted to Hannibal. Marcellus went <?ver to 



I 



HISTORY OF ROME. 85 

■Sicily ''and laid siege to Syracuse ; which defended itself with so much 
y. courage and success, by the aid of the ingenious mathema- 

tician and philosopher, Archimedes, that it was only by the 
greatest efforts, and after a siege of three years, that Mar- 
cellus could make himself master of the place. The revenge 
of the Romans was fearful : the soldiers plundered and slaughtered ; 
Archimedes was slain at his studies, the finest works of art were sent to 
Rome, and the glory of Syracuse was gone forever. Capua experienced 
a similar fate. The place was closely besieged by two Roman legions ; 
the terrified inhabitants implored the assistance of Hannibal, who ad- 
vanced upon Rome, in the hope that the Romans would hasten to the 
relief of their capital, and relinquish the siege. But one legion, in con- 
junction with a few other troops, was sufficient to compel 
Hannibal to retreat, and the Capuans, reduced by hunger, 
werei^obliged to surrender to the other. Twenty-seven senators died by 
their own hands, and fifty -three by the axe of the executioner ; the citi- 
zen? were reduced to slavery, and their property bestowed upon foreiga 
colonists. The treasui-es of Capua were sent to Rome, all her privileges 
were destroyed, and from henceforth the city was governed by a Roman 
prefect. Two years later, Tarentum fell again into the hands of the 
Romans. Fabius Maximus reduced the inhabitants to slavery, and took 
possession of the treasures, but suffei-ed the statues of the "Angry Gods " 
to remain. Fear soon brought all the revolted states back to the 
Romans, and Hannibal's position, without money, without reinforce- 
ments, and without supplies, became every day more precarious. 

§ 120. Spain was now Hannibal's only hope, since he was deserted by 
his ungrateful country. It was there, that Hannibal's brother-, Hasdru- 
bal, after having opposed the Romans for a long time with success, was 
at length reduced to such straits by the young and high-spirited Cornelius 
Scipio, that he was unable to remain in the country any longer, and con- 
sequently resolved upon uniting himself with his brother, who had sum- 
moned him into Italy. Following Hannibal's passage across the Alps, 
he marched into Upper Italy, and then directed his course 
towards the coast of the Adriatic Sea, with the purpose of 
joining his brother, who was encamped in Lower Italy, opposite the con- 
sul Claudius Nero. But the daring resolution of this consul to effect a 
secret junction with his colleague, Livius Salinator, by a rapid march 

upon Umbria, led to the death of Hasdrubal and the destruc- 
B. c. 207. . ' 

tion ot his army, at the river Metaurus, before Haittiibal had 

received notice of his approach. In the bloody head of Hasdrubal, which 

the consul, on his return, threw into the enemy's camp, the dispirited 

general recognized the " fearful fate of Carthage." 

§ 121. It was in misfortune that Hannibal displayed the real greatness 

of his military talents. Without help from without, and without allies 

8 




86 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

in Italy, he still maintained himself, with the remains of his army, fof\ 
some years, in the extreme south, against the superior force of the ene- 
my. But when the victorious Scipio returned, after the subjugation of 
Spain, passed over from Sicily into Africa, with some fugitives and 
volunteers, and, setting fire in the neighborhood of Utica to 

E. C 204 5 5 o o 

the enemy's camp, which consisted of tents made of straw 
and reeds, attacked them during the confusion, Hannibal was recalled to 
defend his country. Sorrowful and angry he quitted the land of his 
renown. It was in vain that he endeavored, during a conference, to 
persuade his opponent to conclude a treaty, by representing the instability 
of fortune. Scipio would not listen to the proposal ; where- 
upon the battle of Zama followed, and ended in the defeat 
of the Carthaginians. Hannibal himself now advised a peace, hard as 
the conditions were. The Carthaginians were obliged to take an oath 
never to commence war without the consent of the Romans, they Js^rF 
compelled to renounce their claims upon Spain, to give up their ships of 
war, and to pledge themselves to pay an enormous sum to defrayHhe 
expenses of the contest. After burning the Carthaginian fleet, and 
investing Masinissa, a friend of the Romans, with the kingdom of 
Numidia, Scipio, (afterwards called Africanus), returned to Rome, where 
a splendid triumph awaited him. Hannibal, on the other hand, was 
obliged, a short time after, to leav^e his home, a persecuted refugee, and 
carried his hatred of the Romans to the court of the Syrian king, 
Antiochus. 

C. MACEDONIA CONQUERED ; CORINTH AND CARTHAGE DESTROYED. 

§ 122. About this time. King Philip II. reigned over Macedonia and a 
part of Greece. He had entered into an alliance with Hannibal, and 
made war on the Romans and their confederates in Greece and Asia 
Minor. It was for this reason that the Romans now turned their arms 
against him. They sent their general, Flaminius, a clever man, and one 
who took an interest in Greek art and literature, into Greece ; he sum- 
moned the states to freedom, and then gave the Macedonians an over- 
throw at the Dogsheads (Cynoscephalas) a range of hills in 
Thessaly. By this, Philip saw himself compelled to a 
peace, by which he acknowledged the independence of Greece, gave up 
his fleet and a great sum of money, and renounced the right of making 
war on his own account. To gratify the vanity of the Greeks, the 
subtle Flaminius caused the deliverance of Greece from the Macedonian 
yoke to be proclaimed with magnificent ceremonies at the Isthmian 
games. But it was soon evident that the Romans were quite as eager 
to assume the government of Greece as ever the Macedonians had been. 
It was for this reason that many of the Greek tribes, and in particular 
the warlike ^tdlians, who had united themselves in a confederation 



HISTORY OP ROME. 87 

similar to that of the Achaians, applied to the Syrian king, Antiocbus III. 
for aid, (§ 90). Antiochus, at whose court Hannibal was living, yielded 
to the demand ; but instead of joining Philip II. and attacking the Romans 
with united forces, he squandered his time idly in feasting and luxury, 
and gave offence to the Macedonian king ; whilst the Romans marched 
rapidly into Thessaly, and after storming the pass of Thermdpyla^ under 
Porcius Cato, compelled the Syrian king to retreat into Asia. But he was 
immediately followed thither by a Roman army, under the command of 
Cornelius Scipio, with his brother Africanus at his side, for counsellor. 

A murderous engagement took place at Magnesia, near mount 
Si'pylus, which terminated to the disadvantage of Antiochus, who was 
compelled to purchase a peace by the cession of Western Asia, this side 
of the Taurus, and by the payment of an enormous sum for the expenses 
of the war. The rapacious ^tolians were also subdued and punished 
in their purses and their treasures of art. 

Hannibal, threatened with being delivered up to the Romans, fled to 
Prusias, king of Bithynia ; but when this prince could no longer venture 
to defend him, he swallowed poison on a lonely hill, to escape 
falling into the hands of his mortal enemies. At the same 
time, his great antagonist, Scipio, died at his estate in Lower Italy, far 
away from Rome, whence he had been driven by the malice of his 
enemies. To make this year thoroughly fatal, Philopce'men was also 
compelled to drink the cup of poison (§ 88). 

§ 123. Perseus, the wicked son of Philip II., made his way to the 
Macedonian throne by crimes, inasmuch as he provoked the suspicious 
father to murder his younger son Demetrius, a noble prince, and well 
disposed to the Romans. Perseus was scarcely in possession of his 
crown, before his hatred to the Romans induced him to begin a new war. 
His enormous wealth enabled him to make vast preparations, but avarice 
and perverse measures soon occasioned his fall. After the victory 
obtained by the expert tactician and accomplished man, 
Paulus -35milius, at Pydna, Perseus fell into the power of 
the Romans, was led in triumph, together with his treasures and his cap- 
tive children and friends, throudi the streets of the mistress of the 
world ; and shortly after, ended his life in solitary confinement. Mace- 
donia was divided into four provinces, and placed under a republican 
form of government ; 1000 noble Acbaians, among whom was the great 
historical writer, Polybius, were conveyed to Rome as hostages, on the 
plea of a secret understanding with Perseus. Twenty years later, a 
pretended son of Perseus raised the standard of rebellion. This gave the 
Romans the wished-for opportunity of converting Macedonia 
into a Roman province-, after the subjection of the impostor 
by Metellus. Metellus had not yet quitted the conquered territory^ 
wlien the Achaian league also took up arms to rid themselves of Rome's 



88 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

oppressive authority. Metellus overthrew the Achaians who inarched 
against him in two engagements ; but was obhged to leave the termina- 
tion of the war to his rude successor, Miimmius, who 

B. C. 146. 

Stormed Corinth, and burnt it to the ground. The inhabit- 
ants were either slain or reduced to slavery, the treasures of art destroyed 
or sent to Rome, and Greece was converted into a Roman province, 
under the name of Achaia. The prosperity of the once flourishing states 
disappeared beneath the pressure of Roman taxation, and every spark 
of the patriotism and love of liberty of a former age was extinguished. 
The Spartans continued their rude trade of war as mercenaries, whilst 
the Athenians sought a subsistence among the Romans, as artists and 
men of learning, as players and dancers, as poets and beaux e sprits ; but 
they were treated with little respect. 

§ 124. In the mean while, Carthage had again recovered a portion of 
her prosperity. This reawakened the envy of the Romans, and gave 
emphasis to Cato's expression, " that Carthage must be destroyed." 
Masinissa, king of Numidia, relying upon Roman protection, enlarged 
his own territories at the expense of those of the Carthaginians ; and at 
last, irritated them so much by perpetual quarrels about boundaries, that 
they took up arms to defend their own possessions. This was looked 
upon in Rome as an infringement of the peace, and occasioned a declara- 
tion of war. The Carthaginians implored indulgence, and delivered up, 
at the demand of the Romans, first, 300 respectable hostages, and after- 
wards, their ships and Aveapons. But when this was followed by a de- 
cree that Carthage should be burnt to the ground, and a new city erected 
farther from the coast, the inhabitants determined rather to perish 
beneath the ruins of their houses than submit to such a disgrace. A 
spirit of courage and patriotism took possession of all' sexes and condi- 
tions. The town presented the a2:)pearance of a camp ; the temples were 
converted into smithies for forging arms, and every thing was made sub- 
servient to the lofty purpose of saving the state. Even the veteran 
legions of Rome were unable to withstand such enthusiasm as this. 
They were repeatedly repulsed and reduced to a precarious condition, 
until the younger Scipio, the able son of Paulus iEmilius, who had been 
adopted into the family of Scipio during childhood, was appointeci to the 
consulate before the lawful age, with dictatorial power. After a most 
desperate resistance, and a murderous conflict for six days in the streets, 
it was he who at length succeeded in reducing the city, after it had 
suffered all the extremities of famine. The rage of the soldiers, and a 
conflagration that lasted for seventeen days, converted Carthage, the once 
proud mistress of the Mediterranean, into a heap of ruins ; 50,000 
inhabitants, whom the sword had spared, were carried into slavery by 
the conqueror, who from this time bore the name of the younger 
Africanus. The territory of Carthage was turned into a Roman 



HISTORY OF ROME. 89 

province, called Africa, and tlie rebuilding of the city denounced with a 
curse. 

d. THE MANNERS AND CULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 

§ 125. The acquaintance of the Romans with Greece was attended 
with the most important consequences to their civilization, manners, and 
mode of living. The works of Greek art and literature that had been 
taken from the conquered towns, produced, in the more susceptible part 
of the nation, a taste for cultivation, and awakened a fresh class of feel- 
ings. A powerful party, at the head of which stood the Scipios, Mar- 
cellus, Flaminius, and many others, patronized the Greek philosophy, 
poetry, and art ; cherished and supported the learned men, philosophers, 
and poets, of that nation ; and sought to transport the spii'it and language 
of the conquered people to Rome, together with their works of art. 
Under the protection of the Scipios, Roman poets wrote verses in imita- 
tion of their Greek prototypes. This was the case with their writers of 
comedy, Plautus and Terence, the latter of whom is said to have been 
assisted in his compositions by the younger Scipio and his friend Lfelius. 
Since, however, the minds of the Romans were directed entirely to the 
practical, to the conduct of war, the government of the state, and the 
administration of justice, intellectual culture never could attain to the 
same height among them as with the Greeks : the people found rnore 
pleasure in spectacles addressed to the senses, rough gladiatorial com- 
bats, and the contests of wild animals, than in the productions of the 
mind. 

But literature and the arts were not the only things that were borrow- 
ed ; elegance and refinement in the arrangement of dwellings, luxury 
and extravagance in meals and dress, politeness and suavity in social 
intercourse, sensual enjoyments and luxurious pleasures, were copied by 
the Romans from the Greeks and Orientals. The victors inherited the 
vices and excesses of the conquered people, along with their wealth and 
civilization. An opposite party, with Porcius Cato at its head, earnestly 
combated the new system that threatened to destroy the ancient manners, 
discipline, simplicity, moderation, and hardihood. The severity with 
which this remarkable man, in his oflSce of censor, opposed the new 
direction of things, has made his name proverbial. By his aid, the 
Greek philosophers were banished from Rome ; the schools of oratory 
closed; the dissolute festivals of Bacchus, and other religious customs 
derived from abroad, interdicted ; the Scipios punished as corrupters of 
morals ; and laws proclaimed against luxury and excess. For the pur- 
pose of counteracting the influence of the new literature, he himself 
wrote works upon agriculture, the basis of Rome's former greatness, and 
upon the people of ancient Italy, whose simplicity and purity of morals 
he wished to contrast with the commencing degeneracy of his time. But 

8* 



90 TJIE ANCIENT WORLD. 

the example of Cato, who learned Greek in his old age, shows that the 
rigid attachment to the ancient and traditional invariably gives way be- 
fore new efforts at progress. 



in. EOME'S DEGENERACY. 
1. NUMANTIA, TIBERIUS, AND CAIUS GRACCHUS. 

§ 126. In proportion as the Roman territory increased in extent, the 
heroism, the civic virtues, and the patriotic feelings on w^hich Rome's 
greatness had been built, disappeared. Fresh aristocratic families were 
formed from the rich and the illustrious, who, like the patricians of old, 
monopolized all honors and offices. They sought perpetually for new 
wars, the conduct of which was given to them alone, for the purpose of 
increasing, by victories and triumphs, the renown they had inherited from 
their ancestors ; and the provinces were exhausted to the end that they 
might give themselves up to all kinds of pleasure and enjoyment, with- 
out lessening the wealth on which the power and splendor of their fami- 
lies were founded. As proconsuls and propraetors, they conducted the 
government and the administration of justice in the conquered provinces, 
with a host of writers and subordinates, and kept their own interest more 
in view than the welfare of the governed. The wealthy members of the 
knightly class undertook, as farmers-general of the revenue, for a certain 
sum they paid into the exchequer, to collect all taxes, imposts, and tolls, 
and then sought, by the most shameless exactions practised by their toll- 
collectors, receivers, and under-farmers, to indemnify themselves for their 
outlay by an enormous profit. What the officials and revenue-farmers 
left, was appropriated by a tribe of hungry merchants and usurers, so 
that, a few decades sufficed to ruin the prosperity of a Roman colony. 
It is very true, tliat there existed a law which gave the abused provin- 
cials the right of impeaching their oppressors on the expiration of their 
term of office ; but as the judges all belonged to the same wealthy and 
noble families, the criminal generally escaped fi'ee, or was fined in a 
small amount, for the sake of appearances. 

Single provinces would occasionally attempt to shake off this oppres- 
sive yoke, and to regain their freedom by dint of arms. The first ex- 
ample of such a revolt was given by the inhabitants of the Pyrenean 
peninsula, and above all others, by the heroic race of Spain, whose chief 
city was Numantia. For five years, they set all the efforts of the Ro- 
mans at defiance, and extorted a treaty of peace and an acknowledgment 
of their independence, from a consul whom they had inclosed in the hol- 
lows of their mountains. But the senate did not confirm the treaty, and 



HISTOKY OF ROME. 91 

behaved as they had done in the affair of the Caudinian passes (§ 110). 
It was only when the younger Scipio, the conqueror of Carthage, put 
himself at the head of the army, and restored the abandoned energy and 
discipline of the camp, that Numantia, after a desperate de- 
fence, was compelled by hunger to surrender. The citizens 
escaped from the insults of the victors, by heroically killing themselves. 
Scipio destroyed the empty town, the ruins of which still look admonish- 
ingly down upon posterity, a memorial of a magnanimous struggle for 
freedom. 

§ 127. The new family aristocracy not only filled all the offices, and 
excluded men of inferior birth from posts of honor, but they also pos- 
sessed the whole of the arable land, inasmuch as they again claimed an 
exclusive right to the common lands, and got the smaller farms into their 
hands by purchase, usury, chicanery, and sometimes even by violence. 
By these means, the greatest inequality of property was produced. The 
class of free husbandmen, upon which the ancient strength, honesty, and 
military virtue of Rome was established, disappeared entirely ; whilst 
the nobles got possession of immense estates, which they had cultivated 
by hosts of slaves, who had been made prisoners in war. Numbers of 
impoverished tenants, who had been driven from their houses and farms 
by hard-hearted landlords, wandered through the land, a picture of misery 
and distress. 

In the midst of this state of things, the noble tribune of the people, 
Tiberius Gracchus, (son of Cornelia, daughter of the great 
Scipio Africanus,) presented himself as the defender of op- 
pressed poverty, by proposing a renewal of the agi'arian law of Licinius 
Stolo (§ 107), which enacted that no one should possess more than 500 
acres of the public land, and that the remainder should be distributed to 
necessitous families in small lots, as their OAvn propety. Upon this, the 
nobles raised a dreadful storm, and prevailed upon another tribune to op- 
pose the measure. According to the Roman code, no proposal could 
become law unless all the ten tribunes Avere unanimous. It was owing to 
this, that Gracchus allowed himself to be seduced into the illegal course 
of getting his refractory colleague deposed by the people, and thus vio- 
lating the sanctity of the tribunitial office. This afforded his adversaries 
ground for the suspicion that Gracchus was meditating the overthrow of 
the constitution, for the purpose of assuming the kingly authority. He 
lost the favor of the misguided people, and was killed in the Capitol, 
together with 300 of his adherents, during a new election of tribunes. 
The people discovered their delusion when it was too late, and erected a 
statue in honor of their high-spirited champion. 

§ 128. This result did not deter the younger and more 

B. C. 123. J CD 

able brother, Caius Gracchus, ten years afterwards, from 
agitating anew for the agrarian law, and, in connection with it, for a corn 



92 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

law, (by which deliveries of corn were to be made to the poorer citizens 
for a moderate price), and other popular measures. His great eloquence 
and his philanthroj^ic exertions gained him a powe;i'ful party among the 
lower class of the people, whose immediate distress he sought to alleviate 
by the making of roads and public works. But when, at the instigation 
of his impetuous friend, Fulvius Flaccus, he proposed that the right 
of Roman citizenship should be extended to the allies, the nobles be- 
came alarmed and tried to destroy him. A dreadful combat took place 
at one of the popular assemblies between the aristocratic party, with the 
consul Opimius at their head, and the adherents of Gracchus and Ful- 
vius. The latter were defeated : Fulvius, with 3,000 of his companions, 
was killed, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber. Gracchus fled into 
a wood on the other side of the river, and commanded a slave 

B. C. 121. 

to thi'ust a sword into his bosom. Their laws and institutions 
were annulled, and their adherents punished with death, imprisonment, 
and banishment. The aristocracy were now, more than ever, the rulers 
of the republic. / 



2. THE TIMES OP MARIUS AND STLLA. 
THE JUGURTHINE WAK. B. C. 112-106. 

§ 129. The aristocrats disgraced their government by avarice and cor- 
ruption, and renounced all sentiments of honor and justice. Jugurtha, 
the grandson of Masinissa of Numidia, a cunning and ambitious man, 
and experienced in war, trusting to the depravity of morals and the cor- 
ruption prevalent in Rome, put to death the two sons of his uncle, who 
had been made co-heirs with himself, seized upon their states, which had 
been conferred upon them by the Romans, and succeeded, by dint of 
bribing the most influential senators, in retaining possession of his plun- 
der, and heaping crime upon crime with impunity. When at length the 
senate were compelled, by the indignation of the people, to send an array 
into Africa, the Nuraidian king actually succeeded in producing such 
enervation and looseness of discipline among the troops, by bribery and 
seduction, that they were defeated at the first attack, and obliged to pass 
under the yoke. This disgrace produced the greatest exasperation in 
Rome, so that the senate were compelled to adopt more stringent mea- 
sures, in order to appease the discontent of the people, and conciliate the 
outraged sentiment of justice, by the punishment of the offendei'. They 
accordingly despatched the upright Metellus, with fresh troops 
into Africa. Metellus restored the discipline of the army, 
and brought back the military renown of the Romans by successful en- 
gagements and conquests. But the people were so embittered against 



HISTORY OF ROME. 93 

the aristocracy, that they resolved to deprive them of the government by 

any means. For this purpose, they required an intrepid leader ; and the 

aspiring and ambitious C. Marius presented himself, a man of obscure 

condition, who was at that time serving as lieutenant in the army of Me- 

tellus, and who joined courage, the talents of a general, and rude military 

virtue, to rough manners, hatred of the nobles, and contempt for their 

cultivation and refinement. Disgusted at the aristocratic haughtiness of 

his commander, Marius returned to Rome, where he was 
B. c. 107. 

chosen consul by the popular party, and intrusted with the 

conduct of the Jugurthine war. Jugurtha, with all his cunning and in- 
ventive genius, was unable long to withstand the energetic Marius and 
his army, now hardened by severe discipline. He was conquered, and 
fled to the faithless Bocchus, king of Mauritania ; but was delivered up 
by him. to the shrewd and dexterous lieutenant Cornelius Sylla, and led 
in triumph to Rome, where he was starved to death in prison. 

§ 130. CiMBRi AND Teutones. — Marius had not yet Concluded the 
Jugurthine war, when the Cimbri and Teutones appeared on the borders 
of tlie Roman empire. They were a northern people, of Germanic ori- 
gin, and gigantic stature and strength, who had left their country with 
their wives, children, and all their property, to seek for a new habitation. 
They were clad in iron coats of mail and the skins of beasts ; they bore 
shields the height of a man, with long swords and heavy maces. They 
first defeated the Romans in a bloody battle in Carinthia, 
passed through Gaul, devastating and plundering, and, Avithin 
four years, cut to pieces five consular armies on the banks of the Rhone 
and the lake of Geneva. Marius, whom the Romans, against the law, 
had elected five successive times to the consulate, came forward as de- 
liverer. With his army, hardened by the labors of digging and hewing, 
he defeated the Teutones in a bloody engagement at Aquaj 
Sextia3, (Aix in Provence), in South Gaul. In the mean 
time, the Cimbri, in a separate body, had penetrated through the Tyrol 
and the valley of the Adige, into Upper Italy ; but when there, had care- 
lessly given themselves up to the pleasures afforded by the rich countiy, 
till they suffered a similar frightful overthrow on the plains near Ver- 
cellte, from Marius, who had joined forces with his colleague Lutatius 
Catulus. The courage of these Germans, who killed themselves and 
their children, to prevent their being reduced to slavery, made the Ro- 
mans ti'emble. 

§ 131. The social war. — A sixth consulate rewarded 

B. C. 100. , 

Marius, the savior of Italy, the pride and hope of the popular 
party. By his assistance, this party again gained the superiority, whicli 
induced the aristocracy to array themselves around Cornelius SyJla, a 
politic and ambitious man, and versed in war, who united in himself the 
cultivation and love of art of the nobles, with their vices and excesses. 



94 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

From tliis time, two powerful partie?, tlie democrats under Mariiis, and 
the aristocrats under Sylla, stood opposed in arms to each other. The 
former endeavored to strengtlien their ranks b)' attracting thither the 
allies, and for this purpose held out to them the prospect of the Roman 
citizenship. When this was not conceded, the disappointed party took up 
arms for the purpose of freeing themselves from Rome, or of compelling 
tlie cession of the refused privileges. This occasioned the 
perilous social war. All the tribes of Sabelline origin, the 
wai-like Samnites and Marsians at their head, renounced allegiance to 
the Romans, formed an Italian confederation, and declared Corfi'nium, 
which was also called Ittilica, chief city of the new alliance. Veteran 
armies marched into the field. In Rome, the people put on mourning, 
armed the manumitted slaves, and conferred the privileges of Roman 
citizenship upon the Latins, Etruscans, and Umbrians, who had remained 
faithful, to prevent their joining with the others. The Romans were 
successful, after many changes of fortune and many bloody engagements, 
in gradually mastering their opponents. But the ferment Avas still so 
dangerous, that they thought it advisable to prevent a fresh insurrection, 
by conferring the rights of citizenship upon the whole of the allies. They 
nevertheless restricted the elective rights of the new citizens. 

§ 132. The first war against Mitiiridates. — The allies were 
scarcely appeased, before the Romans were threatened from the East, 
by an enemy as sagacious as he was bold, — Mithridates, king of the 
Pontus, on the Black Sea. Like Hannibal, an enemy of the Romans, 
this warlike prince, who was a good linguist, endeavored to unite the 
Grecian and Asiatic states in a vast confederacy, and to fi-ee them from 
the Roman dominion. By his orders, all the Roman subjects (togati) in 
"Western Asia, 80,000 in number, were put to death in one frightful day 
of slaughter. At the same time, he seized upon some countries in 
alliance with the Romans, and sent an ai-my into Greece to protect 
Athens, Bocdtia, and other states that had joined him. Hereupon the 
Roman senate gave the command against Mithridates to 

B p 88 

Sylla, who had distinguished himself in the social war, and 
been rewarded by the consulate. But Marius envied his opponent this 
Asiatic campaign, and procured a resolution of the people by which he 
himself was api>ointed to conduct the Mithridatic war. Sylla, who was 
with his army in Lower Italy, now marched upon Rome, had Marius 
and eleven of his confederates outlawed as traitors to their country, and 
adopted proper measures for the preservation of peace. He nevertheless 
behaved with moderation, that he might be able to commence the cam- 
paign against Mithridates as soon as possible. l\Larius, after multitu- 
dinous dangers and adventures, escaped over the marshes of Mintiirnaj 
into Africa. 

§ 133. The first civil war. — Sylla now passed over into Greece, 



HISTORY OF ROME. 95 

stormed Athens, that expiated its revolt by a frightful effusion of blood, 
seized upon the treasures in the temple of Delphi, and 
overthrew the generals of the king of Pontus in two engage- 
ments. He then marched through Macedonia and Thracia into Asia 
Minor, and compelled Mithridates to a peace, by which Rome not only 
recovered her dominion over the whole of Western Asia, but was indem- 
nified for the expenses of the war by the payment of a large sum of 
money, and the cession of the Pontic fleet. The revolted towns and dis- 
tricts were severely punished in their property. 

In the mean time, Marius had returned from the ruins of Carthage 
again into Italy ; and surrounding himself with a band of desperate 
men, had marched to the gates of Rome in conjunction with the demo- 
cratic leaders, Cinna and Sertorius. The city, weakened by famine and 
dissension, was compelled to surrender ; upon which, Marius gave free 
course to his thirst for vengeance. Troops of rude soldiers marched, 
plundering and slaughtering, through the streets of the capital ; the heads 
of the aristocratic party, including the most renowned and respected sena- 
tors and consuls, were murdered, their houses plundered and destroyed, 
their estates confiscated, and their dead bodies given to the dogs and the 
fowls of the air. After this gratification of his ven";eance, 
Marius had himself chosen consul for the seventh time, 
but died a few months after, from the effects of excitement and a disso- 
lute life. 

§ 134. In the year 83 b. c, Sylla landed in Italy after the termina- 
tion of the first Mithridatic war, and marched, with the support of the 
aristocracy, upon Rome. In LoAver Italy, he defeated the democratic 
consuls in numerous engagements, drove the younger Marius to self- 
destruction in the strong city of Preeneste, by the close siege he laid to 
the place, and in a murderous battle before the gates of Rome, annihilated 
the Marian party and the rebellious Samnltes, 8,000 of whom he slaugh- 
tered before the eyes of the trembling senate. The civil war had already 
cost the lives of 100,000 men, when Sylla (surnamed the Fortunate), for 
the purpose of completing his triumph, made public his proscriptions, 
upon which were written the names of the Marian party who were to be 
killed and plundered. Hereupon all the ties of blood, of friendship, of 
dependence and piety, were torn asunder : sons were ai-med against their 
parents, and slaves against their masters; informations were rewarded; 
terror and corruption of morals were everywhere prevalent. Upon this 
Sylla, who was named dictator for an indefinite period, proclaimed the 
Cornelian law, by which the whole power of the government fell into the 
hands of the aristocracy, and the influence of the tribunes was destroyed. 

After the conclusion of these arrangements, Sylla retired to 
B. c. 78. o ' •' 

his estate, where he shortly after died of a frightful dis- 
temper. 



96 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



3. THE TIMES OF CNEIUS POMPET, AND M. TULLIUS CICERO. 

§ 135. Sylla's death did not bring back repose to the disturbed state. 
The outlawed and persecuted Marians assembled themselves around the 
brave and upright democratic leader, Sertorius, and fought against the 
Roman armies in Spain with fortune and success. It was not until Ser- 
t<')rius had been assassinated by his envious associates, that Pompey, who, 
whilst yet a youth, had joined himself to Sylla, and was now regarded as 
the head of the aristocratic party, succeeded in overpowering 
the rebels. His mild and placable character, and his courte- 
ous and popular bearing, rendered him an admirable mediator between 
contending factions. 

§ 136. When Pompey returned to Italy from Spain, he encountered a 
new enemy — the rebellious slaves. Seventy gladiators had 

u. c. 72. . 

tied, in Capua, from the scourge of their task-masters, broken 
open the slave prisons in Lower Italy, and exhorted the inmates to fight 
for their liberties. Their numbers soon increased to 70,000. The valiant 
Thracian, Spartacus, was at their head. Their intention at first was to 
return to their homes ; but after they had overthrown two Roman armies 
that opposed their passage, they entertained the hope of destroying the 
Roman power, and revenging themselves for the injuries they had re- 
ceived. The danger of the Romans was great. But dissension and 
want of military discipline produced a division among the 
slaves, and led to uncombined movements, so that the consul, 
M. Crassus, succeeded in subduing their ill-armed bands in detail. After 
the bloody fight on the banks of the Silarus, in which Spartacus fell after 
an heroic contest, the remainder marched into Upper Italy, where they 
were utterly destroyed by Pompey- 

§ 137. Pompey rendered his name even more illustrious in Asia, 
B. c. 67. where he brought the Avar against the pirates, and the second 

B.C. 74-65. Mithridatic war, to a conclusion, than in the expedition 
ao-ainst the slaves. In the sterile mountain regions on the south of Asia 
Minor, lived a daring race of freebooters, who disturbed the whole Medi- 
terranean by piracy, visited the coasts and islands with plunder and deso- 
lation, dragged off noble Romans as prisoners, for the purpose of exact- 
ing a heavy ransom, and interrupted trade and commerce. Hereupon, 
Pompey was invested with the most unlimited dictatorial power over all 
seas, coasts, and islands. With a splendidly-equipped fleet and army, he 
cleared in three months the whole Mediterranean from the pirates, sub- 
dued the towns and fortresses in their own country, and settled many of 
the inhabitants in the newly-built town, Pompeiopolis. 

§ 138. In the mean time, Mithridates, encouraged by Rome's internal 
disturbances, had begun a fresh war. He had already laid siege to the 
rich inland town of Cyzicus, which was favored by the Romans, when 



HISTORY OF EOME. 97 

Lucullus fell upon him and gave him such an overthrow that he retreated 

in haste to hi^ kingdom of Pontus ; and when this also fell a prey to the 

victor, he sought aid and protection from his son-in-law, Tigranes, king of 

Armenia. But Lucullus defeated the enormous host of the 

B. C. 69. 

Armenian king in the neighborhood of his capital, Tigrano- 
certa, and was already making preparations for overthrowing the whole 
empire, and extending the Roman dominions as far as Parthia, when the 
legions refused obedience to their general. Upon this, Lucullus retired 
to his wealth and his pleasure-gardens, and Pompey united the command 
of the Armenio-Pontic army to his other dignities. He con- 
quered Mithridates, who had assembled fresh forces, in a 
night engagement on the Euphrates, reduced the Armenian king to 
homage and submission, and then put an end to the rule of the Seleucidoe 
in Syria. Mithridates, deprived of the greater part of his territories, and 
despairing of a successful issue, destroyed himself. After Pompey, at his 
own pleasure, had disposed of the conquered lands in Asia, in such a way 
that the Roman empire was enlarged by three provinces, and some of the 
more distant lands had been ceded to tributary kings, he returned to 
Rome, where he held a public entry of two days, and filled the treasury 
with enormous wealth. 

§ 139. A short time before this, M. Tullius Cicero, Pompey's friend 
and the companion of his thoughts, had acquired the honorable title of 
father of his country. Cicero, born in a provincial town, and of citizen 
parents, had so distinguished himself by his talents, his industry, and his 
irreproachable life, that although ignoble (novus homo) he obtained the 
consulate. He had devoted himself in Athens and Rhodes with such zeal 
and success to the sciences of the Greeks, and especially to eloquence and 
philosophy, that he might be compared, both as a statesman and an ora- 
tor, to Demosthenes, and had composed profound works on rhetoric and 
philosophy. Though vain, boastful, and weak, he possessed civic virtue, 
patriotism, and a strong sense of justice. 

During his consulate, Catiline, a man of noble flimily, but disgraced 
by an infamous life, and loaded with debts, formed a conspiracy with 
certain other Romans of desperate fortunes, the objects of which were, 
to murder the consuls, to set fire to the city, to overthrow the consti- 
tution, and in the confusion to seize upon the government by the aid of 
the soldiers of Sylla and the populace. But the vigilant consul Cicero 
had bafiled this atrocious project. By his four orations against Catiline, 
he unmasked the dissembUng villain in the senate, and reduced him to 
fly into Etriiria, where he met with his death in a courageous defence 
against the consular army. His confederates were put to a violent death 
in prison. 



98 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



4. THE TIMES OF JULIUS C.ESAK. 

§ 140. The triumvirate, — Sylla's fortune excited ambitious men to 
imitate it. Every one sought to be first, and to rule the state at his plea- 
sure. But whilst Pompey, who was now in possession of almost kingly 
authority, was reposing upon the laurels of his renown, in the full enjoy- 
ment of liis happiness and prosperity, he was gradually overtaken by his 
great competitor, Julius Ca3sar. This man united talents of the most 
varied character, so that he was not less distinguished as a writer and 
orator, than as a general and soldier. His liberality gained him the favor 
of the people, and his ambition urged him to great deeds. To make him- 
self a match for the old republican party, at the head of which stood the 
eccentric M. Porcius Cato, Cfesar formed an alliance with 

B. c. 60. 

Pompey and Crassus, called the triumvirate (league of three 
men), in which they pledged themselves to mutually assist each other. 
From this time, these three men ruled the state without troubling them- 
selves farther about the senate. In a short time, Coesar had 
the government of Gaul, in which he had a long war to con- 
duct, transferred to himself. That he might not be disturbed in his 
undertakings, he renewed the triumvirate in a meeting that was held at 
Lucca. By this means, the govei'nment of Gaul was continued to him 
for five years. Pompey received Spain as his province, but governed 
it by means of his legates, whilst he himself exercised a dictatorial power 
in Rome. Crassus, the richest man in Rome, to gratify his avarice, chose 
Syria with its riches ; but was overthrown by the Parthians in the plains 
of Mesopotamia, and killed in the flight. His more valiant son, and 
almost the whole of the army, died on the field of battle. The Roman 
ensigns fell into the hands of the enemy. 

§ 141. Cesar's avars in Gaul. — The Celts, a people 
B. c. 58-50. ,..,,. , ., , . . , , . 

divided into many states and tribes, were the ancient inhabit- 
ants of Gaul (France) and Helvetia (Switzerland). The southern part 
of this Gaul had already become a Roman province (hence Provence), 
when the Helve tii embraced the project of leaving their sterile mount- 
ains, and settling themselves in its south-western portion. The Romans 
would not permit this, and CaBsar in consequence marched into Gaul. 
He overthrew the Ilelvetii in a battle, compelled them to return to their 
burnt villages and desolated country, and reduced them to pay tribute. He 
then subdued the German leader, Ariovi'stus, who by means of his hardy 
troops had severely oppressed the Sequani and -S^qui, who were dwell- 
ing in eastern Gaul, and obliged him to return again to his trans-Rhenish 
country. After Coesar had subdued the Belgi and other Gaulish tribes, 
he twice crossed the Rhine for the purpose of terrifying the warlike in- 
habitants of the rude and woody Germany, and preventing their hostile 
attacks upon Gaul. It is to this undertaking that we owe the first short 




t 



HISTORY OP ROME. 9^ 

description of Germany, in CjEsar's commentaries on the Gallic war. 
But the Roman general never thought of making permanent conquests, 
either in Germany or Britain, on the coasts of which he twice landed. 
After a few en^gements with the skin-clad inhabitants of the British 
islands, he sailed back again for the purpose of completely subjecting the 
Gauls. For this restless and fickle people were perpetually revolting 
and taking up arms, when Csesar was employed in another quarter. It 
was not till he had pnt down the last general Insurrection, at 
Alesla, in Burgundy, that he succeeded in gradually reducing 
the whole country as far as the Ehine, and converting it into a province 
of the Roman empire. 

§ 142. The second civil war. — In the meanwhile, 

B. c. 49 -4S. 

the rage of party had grown in Rome to the greatest excess, 
and' murder and plunder were matters of dally occurrence. This induced 
the senate and the old republicans to attach themselves entirely to Pom- 
pey, and to place the consulate at his disposal. Pompey employed this 
vast power to depress Cassar, of whose milltaiy renown he had become 
jealous. At his instigation, an order was sent to Caisar from the 
senate, at the termination of the war in Gaul, to lay down his command 
and to quit his army. Two tribunes of the people (Ciirio and Antonius) 
who opposed this resolution, and demanded that Pompey should also give 
up his power, were driven out of the city ; they fled to Ccesar's camp, 
and summoned him to step forward as tnt; aerendcr of me outraged privi- 
leges of the people. 

After a little hesitation, Caesar crossed the boundary stream 

B C 49. y 

of the Rubicon, and advanced upon Rome. Pompey, aroused 

when it was too late from his indolence and careless security, did not ven- 
ture to await his approach in the city : he hastened to Brundiisium with 
a few troops and a great train of senators and nobles ; and when the vic- 
tor approached that place, he escaped across the Ionian Sea into Epi'rus. 
Ctesar did not pursue him, but fell back upon Rome, where he took pos- 
session of the treasury, and then proceeded to Spain. Here he com- 
pelled the army of Pompey to a capitulation, the result of which was, 
that the generals and officers were allowed to depart, and the greater 
part of the common soldiers joined the victor. When Caesar on his re- 
turn, after a close siege, had reduced Massilla, a town that wished to 
remain neutral, and punished it severely in its possessions and liberties, 
he again marched to Rome, had himself appointed dictator and consul 
for the following year, and adopted many serviceable measures. He then 
passed over the Ionian Sea, for the purpose of making head against 
Pompey. The decisive battle of Pharsalus, in the plains of 
Thessaly, was soon fought, in which Ciesar's veteran troops 
gained a splendid victory over an army of double their numbers. Pom- 
pey, with a few faithful followers, fled across Asia Minor into Egypt, 



i^.m 



100 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

■where, instead of a hospitable reception, he met his death by assassi- 
nation. Ptolemy, in the hope of obtaining the favor of Cfesar, ordered 
the conquered Pompey to be killed on his landing at Pehisium, and his 
dead body to be cast unburied upon the shore. 

§ 143. Caesar's triumphs. — Shortly after, Csesar arrived in Italy. 
He shed tears of compassion over Pompey's death, and refused the 
instigator of the murder his promised rewai'd. For when he was 
chosen umpire between Ptolemy and his beautiful sister Cleopatra, 
in a dispute concerning the throne, he decided in favor of the latter, 
and by this means got involved in a war with the king and the 
people of Egypt, that retained him for nine months in Alexandria, 
and reduced him to great peril. It was only when fresh troops had 
arrived, and Ptolemy had been drowned after an unsuccessful engage- 
ment on the Nile, that he could place the government in the hands 
of Cleopatra (by whose charms he had been enchained), and proceed to 
fresh conquests. The rapid victory that he gained by the terror of his 
name over the son of Mithridates has been rendered immortal by the 
memorable letter that announced the event : " I. came, saw, conquered " 
(^Veni, vidi, vici). After a short delay in Rome, he passed over into 
Africa, where the friends of republican government and the adherents 
of Pompey had collected a vast army. Here Ctesar gained 
the bloody battle of Thapsus, where the hopes of the repub- 
licans were aesuoyed. Thousands fell In the lielcl; many of the survivors 
perished by their own hands, and among them, the high-spirited Oato 
the younger, who put himself to death in Utica with calm composure. A 
magnificent triumph of four days awaited the victor on his return to 
Home, which he, however, soon quitted, for the purpose of attacking the 
last of his enemies, who had assembled themselves around the sons of 
Pompey. The last remnants of the friends of Pompey and the republic 
were destroyed in the frightful battle near Munda, where they 
fought with the courage of desperation. One of the sons was 
killed in the flight, and the survivor followed the life of a pirate, till he 
fell by the hand of an assassin. 

§ 144. Caesar's death. — Cajsar now returned, as chief and ruler of 
the Roman empire, to the capital, where he was saluted as " Father of 
the country," and elected dictator for life. He sought to win the sol- 
diers and people by liberality, and the nobles by offices : he encouraged 
trade and agriculture, embellished the city with temples, theatres, and 
public places, improved the calendar, and forwarded all kinds of good and 
useful projects ; but his evident attempts to gain the title and dignity of 
king induced some fanatical friends of liberty to engage in a conspiracy. 
His friend and flatterer. Marc Antony, offered him the kingly diadem 
during a feast; and despite the feigned distaste with which Cfesar re- 
jected it, his secret satisfaction was easily discernible. At the head of 



f 



niSTORY OF ROME. 101 

the conspiracy stood the high-minded enthusiast for liberty, M. Junius 

Brutus, the friend of Csesar, and the severe republican, Caius Cassius. 

In despite of every warning, Cassar held a meeting of the senate during 
the ides of March, in the hall of Pompey. It was here 
that, with the exclamation, " Et tic Brute ! " he fell, pierced 

by twenty-three daggers, at the feet of the statue of his former opponent. 

5, THE LAST YEARS OF THE KEPUBLIC. 

§ 145. It was soon apparent that the idea of freedom only existed 
among a few men of cultivated minds, but was quenched in the hearts 
of the populace. The first enthusiasm for the newly-acquired freedom 
was soon changed into hatred and invectives against the murderers of the 
dictator, when Marc Antony, in an artful speech at the funeral of 
Caesar, extolled his merits and services, and ordered presents of money 
to be distributed among the poor. The senate, on the other hand, were 
for the most part favorable to the conspirators, and conferred upon some 
of them the government of provinces ; and when Antony attempted to 
take possession of one of these provinces by force, Cicero obtained, by 
his Philippic Orations, that the senate declared him an enemy of the 
country. The senate, at the same time, gave offence to Octavius, the grand- 
son of Ctesar's sister, who was then nineteen years of age, and who, as 
heir of his uncle's name, (Caesar Octavianus, afterwards Augustus), had 
all the old soldiers on his side. Octavius, in consequence, raised the 
standard of Caesar's vengeance, and formed a second triumvi- 

B. C. 43. 

rate with Antony and Lepidus, on a little island of the river 
Reno, near Bologna. New proscriptions took place, which proved par- 
ticularly fatal to the knightly and senatorial ranks. The most deserving 
and illustrious men fell beneath the blows of assassins, the dearest rela- 
tions of blood, of friendship, and of piety were torn asunder. Among the 
victims of Antony was Cicero, who was killed during an attempt at flight. 
His head and his right hand were placed upon the rostrum. 

§ 146. After the possessors of power in Italy had satiated their ven- 
geance, they marched against the republicans, who had established 
their camp in Macedonia, under the command of Brutus and Cassius. 
It was here, in the plains of Philippi, that a decisive double 
engagement took place, in which Cassius was obliged to 
yield to Antony, whilst Brutus repulsed the legions of Octavius. But 
when Cassius, deceived by false intelligence, had over-hastily fallen upon 
his own sword, and the triumvirs, twenty days afterwards, renewed the 
fight with united forces, Brutus, " the last of the Romans, " was forced to 
succumb, and fell, like Cassius, upon his own sword. His wife, Portia 
(Cato's daughter), destroyed herself with live coals, and many champi- 
ons of liberty died by their own hands ; so that Philippi became the 
grave of the republic. Henceforth, the contest was no longer for free- 

9* 



102 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

dom, but for empire. The victors divided the Roman territory between 
them ; Antony chose the east, Octavius the west ; tlie feeble Lepidus, 
who at first received the province of Africa, but who never possessed 
much influence, was soon robbed of his share. 

§ 147. But whilst the luxurious Antony was leading a voluptuous life 
at Cleopatra's court in Alexandria, the shrewd Augustus and his high- 
spirited admiral, Agrippa, were winning the affections of the Roman 
people by liberal donations and diversions, rewarding the soldiers by a 
distribution of lands, and keeping up the discipline of the fleet and army. 
At length, when Antony lavished Roman blood and Roman honor in an 
unsuccessful campaign against the Parthians, married Cleopatra, and 
gave the provinces of Rome to her son, the senate, at the instigation of 
Octavius, deprived him of all his honors, and declared war against Cleo- 
patra. East and west stood opposed in arms. But the sea- 
fight of Actium, despite the superiority of the Egyptians, 
was decided in favor of Octavius. Antony and Cleopatra fled. But 
when the victor approached the gates of Alexandria, the former fell on 
his sword, and Cleopatra, finding that her charms produced no impression 
on the new potentate, destroyed herself by the poison of an 
asp. Egypt became the first province of the Roman Empiee. 



IV. THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
1. THE TIMES OF C^SAR OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTUS. 

Au^stus, § 148. The bloody civil war had swept away all the men 

from 30 b. c. Qf ability and patriotism ; and the crowd that was left de- 
manded nothing but food and entertainment, and forgot free- 
dom and civil virtue in the enjoyment of the moment. This rendered it 
easy to the dexterous Augustus to change the Roman republic into a 
monarchy; but he yielded so far to the prejudices of the Romans, as not 
to assume the title of king, or master, and to retain the republican names 
and forms, with the appellation of Ctesar, whilst he gradually got all the 
offices and privileges of the senate and people placed in his own hands, 
and had them renewed from time to time. He united a profound under- 
etanding and talents for government, with clemency, temperance, and 
constancy ; and as he was a master in the art of dissimulation, and knew 
how to turn the failings of men to advantage, he gained his ends more 
surely than his greater uncle, Ca3sar. It was under Augustus that the 
Roman empire possessed the greatest power abroad, and the highest cul- 
tivation at home. It extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates, 
and from the Danube and Rhine to the Atlas and falls of the jN^ile ; art 



HISTORY OF ROME. 103 

and literature flourished to sucli a degree, that the reign of Augustus 
was called the golden age. Vast military roads, provided with mile- 
stones, connected the twenty-five provinces with Rome, and facilitated 
intercourse; magnificent aqueducts and canals attested the enterprising 
spirit of the Roman people ; Rome itself was adorned with temples, 
theatres, and baths, and so much changed, that Augustus was able to say 
that he found Rome brick, and left it marble. The temple which Agrippa 
consecrated to all the gods (the Pantheon), is still one of the greatest 
ornaments of the eternal city. Augustus and his friend Mnsccnas, Pdllio, 
and others, were the favorers of art and literature, and the patrons of 
poets and authors. The first public library was founded on the Palatine 
hill ; the citizens, who now no longer marched to the wars, and who had 
relinquished the conduct of state affairs to Caesar and his ministers, 
employed their leisure in reading and writing, left actions for Avords, and 
performing for thinking ; it was by this means that polished manners 
soon prevailed among all classes. 

§ 149. Roman literature. — Virgil, Horace, and Ovid claim the 
first place among the poets that adorned the Augustan age. The first 
composed the -Silneid, an heroic poem on the model of Homer (§ 38), 
pastoral poetry, and a didactic poem on agriculture ; Horace, to whom 
his patron Mascenas presented a small Sabine farm, wrote odes, satires, 
and humorous epistles, in which he exhibits his cheerful views of life in 
a witty and engaging manner ; Ovid, the clever writer of mythological 
stories (Metamorphoses), was banished by Augustus to the rude steppes 
of the Caspian Sea, whence he wrote letters of complaint to his distant 
home. 

Among historians, the most celebrated are Sallust, who, in his account 
of the wars against Jugurtha and Catiline, gives a true but frightful 
picture of the corrupt times ; and Titus Livius, the tutor of the grand- 
son of Augustus, who wrote a complete history of Rome, in 142 books; 
of which only thirty-five are preserved. We possess a biography of 
distinguished men, by his contemporary, Cornelius Nepos. The Romans 
took the Greeks for their models in art and literature, but fell far short 
of their masters. 

2. THE STRUGGLES OF THE GERMANS FOR LIBERTY. 

§ 150. About the time that the Saviour of the world was brought 
forth in lowliness and humility in Bethlehem, in the land of Juda^'a, to 
bring the joyful news of salvation to the lost race of man, the Germans 
were engaged in a severe struggle with the Romans for the preservation 
of their liberties and national customs. Drusus, the brave step-son of 
Augustus, was the first Roman who made any conquests on the right 
bank of the Rhine. He undertook many successful campaigns against 
the tribes in aUiance with the Suevi, between the Rhine and the Elbe, 



104 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

and attempted to secure the land Ly intrenchraents and fortifications. 
Being killed in the flower of his years, by a fall from his horse during 
his return home, his brother Tiberius completed the conquest of western 
Germany, rather by dint of skilfully-conducted negotiations with the 
disunited Germans, than by force of arms ; whereupon the country be- 
tween the Rhine and the Weser was erected into a Eoman province. 
Foreign customs, language, and laws already threatened to destroy Ger- 
man nationality ; German soldiers already fought in the ranks of the 
Romans, and prided themselves on foreign marks of distinction ; when the 
insolence and indiscretion of the governor, Quintilius Varus, aroused the 
slumbering patriotism of the people. Several tribes united themselves 
in a confederacy, under the guidance of Hermann (Arminius), the va- 
liant prince of the Cherusci, for the purpose of throwing off the foreign 
yoke. It was in vain that Segestus, whose daughter Thusnelda had been 
carried off and married by Hermann, against the consent of her father, 
warned the careless governor. Varus marched with three legions and 
several auxiliaries, through the Teutoburger forest, for the purpose of 
quelling an insurrection that had been purposely raised ; but suffered 
such a defeat from the Germans under Hermann's command, that the 
defiles of the wood were covered far and wide with the 
corpses of the Romans. The eagles were lost, and Varus 
died by his own hands. Augustus, when he heard the news, exclaimed 
in despair, " Varus, give me back my legions ! " 

§ 151. Upon the death of Augustus, in his 7Gth year, at 
Nola, in Lower Italy, Germanicus, the valiant son of Drusus, 
again crossed the Rhine, ravaged the lands of the Catti (Hesse), 
buried the bleaching remains of the Romans in the Teutoburger forest, 
and carried off into captivity Thusnelda, the high-spirited wife of Her- 
mann, whom her treacherous father had given up to the enemy. But 
although he defeated the Cherusci and their allies in two engagements, 
and at the same time pressed Germany closely by sea, the Roman do- 
minion was never firmly or permanently established on the right bank of 
the Rhine. Storms destroyed the fleet, and a pathless country and the 
swords of the Germans brought the army to the brink of destruction ; 
and when at length Germanicus, (to whose noble wife, Agrippina, the 
town of Cologne owes its prosperity), was recalled by his jealous uncle, 
Tiberius, and shortly after, met with his death by poison in Syria, the 
Germans were no longer disturbed by the ambition of the Romans. But 
the Lower German confederation of the Cherusci now turned its arms 
against the Upper German confederation of the Marcomanni, at the 
head of which stood Marbodius. This gave the Romans an opportunity 
of embroiling Germany from the south. Marbodius fell into the power 
of the Romans, who kept him for eighteen years at Ravenna, as their 
pensioner ; Hermann was killed by envious friends. His deeds survived 



HISTORY or ROME. 105 

in song, and our own age has erected a colossal statue, on the Teuthill 
at Detmold, in joyful commemoration of the deliverer of Germany. 

TACITUS ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE GERMANS. 

§ 152. About 100 years after Augustus, the great historian Tacitus, 
after having portrayed the events of the Eoman empire in his History 
and Annals, embraced the resolution of describing the manners and cus- 
toms of the German tribes, and presenting them as models to his degene- 
rate countrvmen. Althoucih the work remained a mere sketch, it is to 
this resolution that we are indebted for the first accurate information 
respecting this region. We learn from it, that Germany was inhabited 
by numerous independent tribes, sometimes united and sometimes at war 
with each other, who were perpetually changing their places of residence 
in obedience to an innate wandering impulse. 

"War and the chase were their chief employments ; they built neither 
towns nor stron2;-holds ; their huts and farms were scattered about in the 
midst of their grounds ; a peaceful life behind stone walls agreed neither 
with their love of liberty nor their passion for war. They united purity 
of morals, hospitality, good faith, and honesty, respect for women, and 
reverence for the marriage tie, to the external advantages of lofty 
stature, beauty of person, strength, and courage. The only vices attribu- 
ted to them are a disposition to drunkenness and gambling. 

3. THE C^SARS OF THE AUGUSTAN RACE. 

§ 1.53. Domestic misfortunes disturbed the happiness of Augustus. 
The promising sons, who sprung from the marriage of his daughter 
Julia with Agrippa, died in their youth ; Julia herself occasioned her 
father such distress by her profligate life that at length he banished her. 
By the intrigues of the ambitious Livia, the emperor's third wife, the 
Tiberras, empirfe descended to Tiberius, the adopted step-son of 

A. D. 14 — 37. Augustus. The clemency at first displayed by this hypo- 
critical prince soon gave way to his natural malevolence, particularly 
when his crafty and vicious favorite, Sejanus, assisted him in establish- 
ing a mihtary despotism. He advised him to unite the praatorian body- 
guard in a permanent camp before Rome. Here they soon became the 
oppressors of the people, raised and dethroned emperors, and introduced 
a military despotism. The assemblies of the people were no longer held, 
and the dastardly senate sank into a mere tool of the despot. The fright- 
ful court which took cognizance of cases of high treason, was a means of 
destroying every man of ability, inasmuch as it inflicted the punishment 
of death, and imposed fines, not only for actions, but even for words and 
thoughts. Pensioned spies undermined all faith and trust among the 
people, and destroyed every spark of freedom by terror. The misan- 
thropical Tiberius, tortured by fear and the reproaches of his conscience, 



106 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

passed the last years of his life in the island of Caprea5 (Capri), in Lower 
Italy, where he abandoned himself to luxury and the most infamous 
pleasures, whilst Sejjinus was practising every vice in Rome. When the 
latter at length attempted to possess himself of the throne, the emperor 
sent an order to the senate to put him to death. Tiberius, sick and 
advanced in years, perished by a violent death on his estate in Lower 
Italy. During his reign, a dreadful earthquake destroyed many of the 
richest and most beautiful cities in Asia Minor. 

C:ili"-ul;i § 154. His successor, Caius Caligula, the unworthy son of 

A. D. 37-41. the noble Germanicus and the high-minded Agrippina, was 
a blood-thirsty tyrant, who took dehght in signing sentences of death and 
having them executed; a frantic spendthrift, who lavished money in 
buildings without a purpose ; an insolent boaster, who caused divine 
honors to be paid to himself, and celebrated magnificent triumphs over 
the Germans and Britons, whom he scarcely ever saw ; and a glutton, by 
whose riotous table enormous sums were swallowed up. The Praetorians 
Claudius ^t length killed the crazy tyrant, and raised his uncle, the 
A. D. 41 - 54. imbecile Claudius, to the throne. This emperor was led by 
women and favorites ; the latter especially the freedmen Narcissus and 
Pallas, were in possession of all the ofiices, and enriched themselves at 
the expense of the people, whilst his wife Messah'na yielded herself up to 
every lust, and trampled morality and decency under foot. At length, 
the emperor commanded her to be put to death, and married his ambi- 
tious and profligate niece Agrippina, who, however, suon got rid of her 
weak and uxorious husband by poison, for the purpose of raising the 
depraved Claudius Nero, her son by a former marriage, to the throne, 
jjero § 155. The clemency which Nero displayed in the com- 

A.D. 54-68. mencement of his reign, soon gave place to the most ex- 
quisite cruelty. He, who once, when he had to sign an order for an 
execution, wished that he could not write, now not only persecuted, put 
to death, and confiscated the property of every man who displayed the 
virtues of a citizen or the mind of a Roman, but exercised his tyranny 
at the expense of his nearest relations. His step-brother, Germanicus, 
died by poison from the imperial table ; his mother was first sunk at sea 
in a ship, and when she succeeded in saving herself, was put to death by 
assassins despatched for the purpose ; his virtuous wife, Octavia, the 
daughter of Claudius, found a violent death in an overheated bath. A 
conspiracy, in which the republican poet Lucan (whose heroic poem 
Pharsalia still breathes the old Roman spirit) was implicated, was made 
use of by the emperor to destroy not only Lucan, but his uncle Seneca, 
the Stoic philosopher, Avho had been Nero's own preceptor. Seneca 
opened his own veins. Nero, at the instigation of his courtiers and 
mistress (Poppje'a Sabina), perpetrated the most shameful follies and 
crimes. Spectacles and riotous processions, in which the emperor him- 



niSTORY OF ROME. 107 

self, disguised as a singer and harp-player, took a share along with the 
companions of his pleasures, luxurious feasts and banquets, and extrava- 
gances of every description, consumed the revenues of the state. Tlie 
despot, in the plenitude of his insolence and wickedness, ordered Rome 
to be set on fire,* that he might sing the destruction of Troy from the 
battlements of his palace. To divert the hatred of his subjects from him- 
self, he afterwards attributed the crime to the Christians, wlio were sub- 
jected, in consequence, to the most frightful persecutions. The rebuilding 
of the city, and Nero's " Golden House," on the Palatine hill, increased 
the oppression, till at length, repeated enormities induced the Spanish 
legion to revolt. As the troops under the command of Galba approached 
the capital, Nero tied to a country house, where he caused himself to be 
stabbed by one of his freedmen. 

§ 156. The house of Augustus became extinct with Nero. Galba was 
Galba Otho ^'^ successor. But as the avaricious old man would not 
Vitellms, gratify the rapacity of the Praetorians, they proclaimed Otho 
A. D. 68-70. emperor, and put Galba and the successor he had appointed 
to. death. At the same time, Vitellius raised his standard on the Rhine, 
marched with his legions into Ital}', and defeated the array of his oppo- 
nent on the banks of the Po. Otho, and several of his adherents, died 
by their own hands. Vitellius was a mere glutton, who found pleasure 
in nothing but luxurious banquets. Accoi'dingly, when Vespasian, whom 
the Syrian legions had proclaimed emperor, approached the gates of 
Rome, Vitellius was killed by a troop of rude soldiers, and his body 
JrajTfred with hooks into the Tiber. 



;o 



4. THE FLAYII AND ANTONINES. 

Vespasian, § 157. Vespasian, the first in the succession of good empe- 

A. D. 70-79. rors, restored the discipline of the army and the Praetorians 
by severe measures, improved the administration of justice after abolish- 
ing the court of high treason, and by economy and good management 
succeeded in replenishing the treasur3\ At the same time, he embel- 
lished the city by building the Temple of Peace and the Amphitheatre, 
the gigantic remains of which (Coliseum) still excite the admiration of 
travellers, and enlarged the boundaries of the empire by the conquest of 
JudiB'a and Britain. 

§ 158. The tyranny of the Roman governor who ruled over the land 
of Judos'a had at last driven the people to rebellion. They fought with 
the courage of despair against the advancing legions, but were forced to 
yield to Roman superiority and take refuge in their capital, where they 

* This is an exaggerated account of Nero's guilt. It is not probable that he was the 
author of the conflagration, and Tacitus says there was no authority but a vague rumor 
among the populace for the story, that Nero showed his indifference or exultation at tiie 
event by playing and singing while the flames still raged. Am. Ed. 



/ 



103 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

were now besieged by Vespasian's son, Titus. Thousands were soon 

carried off by famine and pestilence in the over-crowded city. It was in 

vain that the compassionate general made oifers of pardon: rage and 

fanaticism urged the Jews to a desperate resistance. They defended 

themselves in their temple with an utter contempt for death, till that 

magnificent structure was destroyed by fire on the taking of the city, and 

death raged in every shape among the conquered. The 

complete destruction of Jerusalem then took place. Among 

the prisoners, who followed the triumphal car of the conqueror, was 

Josephus, the Jewish historian of this war. The triumphal arch of Titus 

in Rome displays, to this day, representations of the sacred vessels of the 

Jews that were at this time conveyed to the metropolis of the world. 

Those who were left behind were exposed to grievous oppression under 

the Roman yoke. But when a heathen colony, sixty years after the 

destruction of the city, was transplanted by the emperor Adrian to the 

sacred soil of Jerusalem, (which from this time was called iElia Capi- 

tolina), and a temple erected to Jupiter on the eminence once occupied 

by Solomon's temple to Jehovah, the Jews, deceived by a false Messiah, 

took up arms once more to prevent this outrage. After a 
A. r>. 122-125. , ^ , , n .. • 1- 1 ;i 

murderous war of three years duration, m which upwards 

of half a million of the natives were slaughtered, the Jews submitted to 
the military skill of the Romans. The survivors left the country in 
crowds, the land resembled a desert, and the Jewish state was at an end. 
Since then, the Jews have been scattered abroad over the whole earth, 
but without mingling with other people, and faithful to their own customs, 
religion, and superstitions. 

§ 159. It was during the reign of Vaspasian, that the high-spirited 
Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, by whom his life has 
been written, subdued Britain as far as the highlands of Caledonia (Scot- 
land), and introduced the Roman language, manners, and institutions. 
Britain remained subject to the Romans for nearly four hundred years. 
The warlike energy of the people was destroyed by civilization, so that 
they were afterwards as little able to resist the attacks of the rude Cale- 
donians (Picts and Scots) as the wall erected by Adrian proved a defence 
against their inroads. 

1'itus § 160, The simple and energetic Vespasian was succeeded 

A. D. 79 -SI. by his son Titus, who cast off the fiiilings and crimes of his 
youth when he ascended the throne, and became so admirable a prince 
that he was justly called " the delight of mankind." It was during his 
reign that a frightful eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the towns 
of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabia). The inquisitive natural philoso- 
pher, the elder Pliny, lost his life by the vapor produced by this eruption, 
as we learn from two letters, written by his nephew, Pliny the younger, 
the friend and encomiast of the emperor Trajan, to the historian Tacitus. 



HISTORY OF ROME. 109 

The Gxliumation of these buried towns, which was begun about a hundred 
years ago, more especially that of Pompeii, has been of the utmost im- 
portance to the knowledge of antiquity and to the artistic taste of our 
own day. 

§ 1 G 1 . The noble Titus was unfortunately followed by his brother, the 
Domitian cruel Domitian, a gloomy and misanthropical tyrant, who 
A. D. 81-96. took pleasure in nothing but the contests of wild beasts and 
gladiatorial combats. When he was at length murdered at the instiga- 
Xerva tion of his wicked wife, the throne was taken possession of 

A. D. 96-98. by Nerva, an old senator. Nerva adopted the energetic 
Trajan, Spaniard, Trajan, who, by his government at home, and his 

A. D. 98-117. victories abroad, deserved the surname of the best, and the 
glory of the greatest, of the Cajsars. He provided for the proper admin- 
istration of justice, facilitated trade and commerce by making new roads 
and harbors (Civita Vecchia), and embellished Rome with public build- 
ings, temples, and a new forum, in which he ordered the beautiful column 
of Trajan to be erected. He at the same time reduced the turbulent 
Dacians on the Danube, and established the province of Dacia (Walla- 
chia and Transylvania), which was soon peopled by Roman settlers, on 
the northern bank of the river. In the east, he made war on the Par- 
thians, conquered Babylon, Seleucia, and other cities, and converted 
Armenia and Mesopotamia into Roman provinces. The country between 
the sources of the Danube and the Upper Rhine, (Black Forest), was' 
surrendered to settlers from Gaul and Germany, and was afterwards 
protected from hostile attacks by a ditch fortified with stakes. It was 
called Decumatian land, and the ruins of numerous towns, and the anti- 
quities that are dug up there, show that it must have shared in the civili- 
zation of its conquerors. 

§ 162. Trajan's relative and successor, -321ius Adi'idnus (Hadrian) 
was more intent upon defending than enlarging the bounds of his em- 
Hadrian pii'^j find found greater pleasure in art and literature than 
A. D. 117-138. in war. He was a man of great cultivation of mind, but 
vain, and open to flattery. His eagerness for knowledge, and love of 
art, induced him to take journeys of many years' duration, both into 
the East, where he lingered in Greece, Asia, and Egypt, and into 
the West, where he visited Gaul, Spain, Britain, and the Rhine-land. 
Among the many winters, artists, and interpreters who surrounded the 
brilliant court of Hadrian, the most distinguished was the Greek Plu- 
tarch, the author of numerous writings. His biographies, in which he 
compai'es together the Greek and Roman statesmen and generals, are 
especially calculated to excite admiration for the heroic deeds of anti- 
quity. Hadrian's love of art is borne witness to more particularly, by 
the ruins of his villa at Tfvoli ; his magnificent mausoleum, now the castle 
10 



110 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

of St. Angelo at Rome ; and innumerable remains of sculpture and 
building. _ " 

Antoninus § ^^^' H'^drian's adopted son, the simple and benevolent 

Pius, Antoninus Pius, was an ornament of the throne. He avoided 

A.D. 138-161. -^^Y that he might devote all his care to the arts of peace. 
Marcus His successor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher, 

Aurelius, was as much distinguished in war as in peace. He conquered 
■'^' "■ ~ ■ the Marcomanni on the frozen Danube, and drove back over 
the frontiers, after a long war, the German tribes who were their confede- 
rates. He died at Vindobona (Vienna), during a campaign. Marcus 
Aurelius was a man of simple and hardy habits, who, when on the 
throne, remained true to his stoic virtue and severity of morals (§ 91). 
He promoted civilization and useful institutions, and the collection of 
reflections, which he composed and dedicated to himself, bears witness to 
his noble principles and efforts. 

§ 1G4. Cultivation and mokals. — During this period, the highest 
civilization prevailed in the Roman empire, along with the greatest de- 
pravity of morals. Arts and sciences were encouraged in the courts of 
the Caesars and the palaces of the wealthy, and were shared in by per- 
sons of all conditions. Trades and commerce flourished, and prosperity 
and refinement were visible in the populous cities and elegant dwelling- 
houses ; establishments for education sprang up in Rome and the more 
considerable provincial towns. The ruins of buildings, military roads, and 
bridges that we admire even at this day, not only in Italy, but in many pro- 
vincial towns (Treves, Nimes), the statues, sarcophagi, and altars with 
bas-reliefs and inscriptions, the vases of clay and bronze of elegant forms 
that are dug out of the earth, all bear testimony to the cultivation and 
feeling for art existing among the people in the times of the Cassars. 
But this refinement was but a superficial polish ; morality, nobility of 
soul, and strength of character, were held in no estimation. The people, 
no longer invigorated by war, or the labors of the field, sank into luxury 
and effeminacy ; they sought their gratification in the barbarous sports 
of the amphitheatre, gladiatorial combats, and the contests of Avild beasts, 
and gave themselves up to a relaxing enjoyment of the luxurious baths, 
with which the city was amply provided by the emperors, for the pur- 
pose of withdrawing the citizens from the consideration of graver mat- 
ters. It is in vain, that Persius angrily shakes the scourge of his stern 
satire over the degenerate race, and endeavors to bring back the ancient 
vigor, simplicity, and morality; — it is in vain, that the witty Juvenal 
unveils in his sportive satire the frightful depths of crime and wicked- 
ness, and lashes his degenerate contemporaries ; it is in vain, that the 
waggish Greek, Lucian, in his witty and satirical writings, jests at all the 
existing conditions of life and religion, for the purpose of destroying what 
is old, and thereby making room for something new and better ; — human 



HISTORY OF ROME. Ill 

counsel came too late ; nothing but a higher power could save the per- 
ishing world ; the help had already appeared, but the blinded Eomans 
did not recognize it, because it came not in the pomp of authority, but in 
the garment of humility. 

5. KOME rXDER MILITAKY GOVERNMENT. 

Coramodus § 165. Rome's downward course commences Avith Com- 

A. 1). 180-192. modus, the unworthy son of Aurelius. He was a barbarous 
tyrant, who delighted in nothing but the combats of gladiators and wild 
beasts, and who distressed the people in every way, till at length he was 
Pertinax, pnt to death by those around him. Pertinax, his valiant 
A. V. 193. successor, had a similar fate. After his death, the insolence 
of the praetorians rose to such a height, that they put up the crown to the 
Septimius highest bidder. Septimius Severus first restrained their inso-' 
Severn?, lence by his inexorable severity, and reestablished the impe- 

A»D. 193-211. rial power. He was a rude soldier, and enlarged the empire 
by his conquests in the East, where he took Mesopotamia from the Par- 
thians; and he secured Britain by new defences against the turbulent 
Picts and Scots. But he deprived the senate of their last remains of 
power, and placed his whole reliance on the army, so that he was the 
actual establisher of the military government. 

§ 166. The death of Septimius Severus at Eboracum (York) in Bri- 
Caracalla tain, placed his cruel son, Caracalla, on the throne, who, true 
A. D. 211-217. to his father's teaching, honored the soldiery, but treated 
other men with contempt. He killed his brother, Geta, in the arms of 
his mother, and then put his preceptor, the great jurist Papinian, to 
death, for refusing to justify the fratricide. For the purpose of augment- 
ing the revenue, he gave the right of Eoman citizenship to all the free- 
born men in the empire. After the murder of this profligate tyrant by 
his own soldiers, in a campaign against the Parthians, his relative, Helio- 
Heliogabalus, gabalus, a priest of the Syrian sun-god, succeeded to the 
A. D. 218-222. throne. Heliogabalus was a weak and cruel epicure, who, 
by the introduction of the sensual worship of Baal from Syria, destroyed 
the last remnants of the ancient Eoman discipline and morality. The 
praetorians at length put the effeminate debauchee to death, and raised 
Alexander ^"^ cousin, Alexander Severus, to the throne. Severus was 
Severus, a man of respectable character, who adopted many excellent 

A. D. 222-235. measures, and listened to the advice of his sagacious mother; 
but his powers were inferior to the conduct of such difficult affairs of 
state. The praetorians killed the great jurist, Ulpian, before his eyes, 
with impunity; and on the eastern boundary, Ardshir (Artaxerxes) 
overthrew the Parthian government, and established the new Persian 
empire of the Sassanidce, who soon pursued their conquests into the Ro- 
man territory. 



112 THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

§ 167. The death of the emperor and his mother, by an insui'recticn 
of the soldiers at Mayence, reduced the empire to such confusion, that 
twelve emperors were raised and dethroned within the space of twenty 
years. Philip the Arab, who, like Alexander Severus, was a friend to 
Philip iiiQ Christians, souofht to si";nalize his reijrn by a magnificent 

\ D '>43-949 celebration of the thousandth anniversary of Rome. His 
Decius successor, Decius, persecuted the Christians, but found an 

A. D. 249-251. early death in battle against the Goths, a German tribe who 
had established themselves on the Lower Danube, and made preda- 
tory excursions thence, both by land and sea, into the Roman territory. 
After his death, the empire seemed on the point of dissolution. The 
generals in the different provinces caused themselves to be proclaimed 
Galliemis emperors, so that the historians of the period, during which 
,A.D. 259-268. G-allienus reigned in Rome, aud his father. Valerian, was 
pining in captivity in Persia, call this the age of the thirty tyrants. In 
the mean time, the empire was attacked on the east by the New Per- 
sians, under the command of the valiant Sapor, whilst the German tribes 
threatened the other quarters. 

§ 1G8. At this juncture, Aurelian, a man imbued with the old Roman 
Aurelianus, Courage and military discipline, was the restorer of tlie em- 
A.D. 270-275. pire. He subdued the rebellious generals, and marched 
against the kingdom of Palmyrene, which Odendtus had founded on an 
oasis in Syria, and which was governed, after his death, by his beautiful 
and heroic wife, Zenobia. Palmyra, the capital city, rich in arts, philo- 
sophy, and commerce, was taken and destroyed, and Zenobia led in 
triumph to Rome. Her preceptor and adviser, the gallant philosopher 
Longinus, died a violent death. At first, a follower of the new Platonists, 
who joined the Oriental profundity, superstition, and belief in miracles, 
to the doctrines of Plato, and put the inactive contemplation of the East 
in place of the practical intelligence of ancient Rome, Longinus had 
afterwards relinquished this obscui-e wisdom. The ruins of Palmyra yet 
enchain the admiration of the traveller. Aurelian again restored the 
boundary of the Danube on the north, gave up the province on the far- 
ther side of the river to the enemy, and transplanted the inhabitants to 
the right bank. Lest his capital should be endangered by any sudden 
attack, he surrounded Rome with a wall. 

§ 1G9. After Aurelian had been killed by his soldiers, and his suc- 
Tacitus, cesser, Tacitus (a descendant of the historian), had perished 

A. D. 275-276. in an expedition against the Goths, the courageous and up- 
Probus, right Probus was raised to the throne. He enlarged and 

A.D. 276-282. completed the boundary wall (Devil's Wall), from the Bava- 
rian Danube to the Taurus, and secured it by means of troops ; he 
planted vineyards on the Rhine and in Hungary, and reformed the affairs 
of the army. After Probus also had been killed by his troops, and his 






HISTORY OP ROME. 113 

successor, Carus, had fallen in an expedition against the Persians, either 
Cams by a stroke of lightning or the hand of an assassin, the throne 

A. D. 282 - 2S4. was assumed by the sagacious Diocletian. 

§ 170. Diocletian increased the imperial power, and lowered the dig- 
Diocletian nity of the senate ; he projected a division of the empire, for 
A. D. 284-305. the purpose of more easily resisting the enemy. He himself, 
with the title of Augustus, governed the Eastern region, together with 
Thrace, whilst his assistant in the empire (Ca3sar), Galerius, was at the 
head of the lUyrian provinces ; in the same manner, Maximian, under 
the title of Augustus, ruled over Italy, Africa, and the islands ; and his 
son-in-law, Constantius (Chlorus), governed the western provinces, 
Spain, Gaul, and Britain. For twenty years, Diocletian governed the 
empire with vigor and dexterity, and restored its former strength and 
stability. But when he allowed himself to be seduced into commanding a 
bloody persecution against the Christians, he disturbed the evening of a 
most active life, and stained his name and government with an indelible 
mark of infamy. The SAvord of persecution was still raging among the 
confessors of the crucified Jesus, when Diocletian abdicated his throne, to 
pass his remaining years in rural retirement at Salona, in Dalmatia, and 
to forget the bustle of the world in the arrangement of his palace and 
gardens. 

§ 171. The abdication of Diocletian was followed by a period of con- 
fusion and sanguinary civil wars, which was only put an end to, when 
Constantinus, the brave and wise son of Constantius, assumed the 
government of the West, and marched into the field against Maximian's 
hard-hearted son, Maxentius. Constantine, who had been won over to 
Christianity by his mother, Helena, erected the banner of the cross 
(labarum), overthrew the cruel Maxentius at the Milvian 
Bridge, and took possession of Rome, after his opponent had 
been drowned in the waters of the Tiber, It was from this point that 
Constantine ruled over the West, whilst his brother-in-law, Licinius, 
governed the East. But the ambition of Constantine soon occasioned 
another war, in which Licinius lost victory, kingdom, and, at last, his life. 
It was thus that Constantine became sole governor of the 
Roman empire, and showed favor to the Christians. But 
that the doctrines of Jesus had little eiFect upon his mind, is shown by 
the cruelty with which he caused whole troops of his captured enemies 
to be thrown to wild beasts, by the severity he displayed in the execution 
of his wife and his noble son, Crispus, and by the love of vengeance and 
want of truth displayed in his character. 

10* 



BOOK SECOND. 



mGRATION OF NATIONS AND THE MIDDLE AGE. 



A. MIGRATION OF NATIONS AND ESTABLISH- 
MENT OF MONOTHEISM. 

I. THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 

1. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 

§ 172. The Romans were very tolerant of the heathen forms of 
religion amongst other nations, as is apparent at once from the fact, that 
they adopted not only the mythology of the Greeks, but also, by degrees, 
the theology of the East, of the Chaldeans, Persians, Egyptians, and 
Syrians. But as Christianity forbade any combination with Paganism, 
the Christians carefully avoided all participation in the feasts and 
religious rites of the heathen, and kept themselves separate even in the 
daily intercourse of life ; thus the hatred of the people and the mis- 
trust of their rulers were roused, and heavy persecutions arose against 
them. Ten persecutions of Christians are recorded from the days of 
Nero, when Peter and Paul are said to have met their death, to the first 
decennium of the fourth century, when Diocletian and Galerius drove 
the confessors of the crucified Saviour, by rack and axe, to the altar of 
sacrifice, burnt down the churches, and gave the Holy Scriptures to the 
flames. Even the noble-minded Marcus Aurelius thought it his duty to 
break by force the stubbornness of the supposed fanatics ; and the short 
reign of Decius has become memorable for one of the most violent per- 
secutions of the Christians. Hut the holy Joy with which the martyrs, 
bfearing witness by their blood, endured torture and death, multiplied the 
number of believers, so that the blood of martyrs is justly called " the 
seed of the Church." The objects of persecution concealed themselves 
in subterraneous passages (the Catacombs), near the graves of those they 
loved, and in caves and mountain clefts. Oppression heightened their 
trust in God ; and the number of apostate believers who delivered up the 
Bible to be burned, or offered incense before the statue of the emperor. 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AXD JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 115 

was small -when compared with the number of those who stood firm in 
their faith. During the years of persecution, Christianity continued to 
spread, by the indwelling force of truth, and favorable circumstances from 
without, to all quarters of the heavens, so that, as early as the third 
century, before Cdnstantine raised it to a state religion, it overstepped 
the bounds of the Roman empire. 

2. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 

§ 173. Cdnstantine, as sole emperor, transferred his residence to 
Byzantium, Avhich from this time forward was called Constantinojile. He 
fortified the city, which was favorably situated, with walls and towers, 
and embellished it most magnificently with palaces and churches, race- 
grounds, and works of art. He then abolished the antiquated constitu- 
tion of the Roman empire ; vested all power in the imperial throne ; 
surrounded himself with a brilliant court of chamberlains, ministers, 
officials, and servants; and established a galling system of taxation. The 
better to conduct the management of his vast empire, he divided it into 
four prefectures or lieutenancies : the East, to which Thrace and Egypt 
were assigned ; Illyricura with Greece ; Italy with Africa ; the "West 
(containing Gaul, Spain, Britain). Each of these he divided into a 
greater or less number of districts (dioceses), and these again into states 
(provinces). The last years of his life Cdnstantine devoted principally 
to religious and ecclesiastical matters ; but he deferred the rite of baptism 
which cleanseth from sin, till shortly before his death. He founded 
many churches, and endowed them with landed estates. He granted to 
the clergy an immunity from taxes, and other privileges, and allowed 
legacies to the Church. From this time forward, the constitution of the 
Christian Church took a new shape ; Avhereas before, the Elders and 
Bishops were chosen from the whole Church-community, and the princi- 
ple of brotherly equality amongst all Christians was held in honor, now, 
the prii3sthood (clergy) separated from the people (laity), and introduced 
degrees of rank, so that the Bishops of the principal cities were placed 
over the remaining Bishops as metropolitans, and these again had the 
superintendence of the priests in their immediate neighborhood. At the 
same time, the Church services, which before consisted only in singing, 
prayer, and reading the Bible, and concluded with the love-feasts, were 
made more solemn by the aid of music and other arts. 

§ 174. Arianism. — Augustine. — Fathers of the Church. — 
The doctrine (dogma), also, of Christianity did not long remain in its 
original simplicity and purity, when many learned men made it the sub- 
ject of their inquiry and meditation. The first point which they investi- 
gated was the relation of Christ to God, and the mysterious junction of 
His divine and human natures. On this question, vehement contentions 
arose as early as the time of Constantine, between the Alexandrian 



116 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

ecclesiastics, Arius and Athanasius, the first of whom maintained that 
Christ, the Son of God, was inferior to God the Father, and dependent 
on Him ; while the latter laid down the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, 
through the principle that God the Son was of the same substance with 
God the Father. The first general Church Council (CEcumenical Syn- 
od), which Constantine convened at Nice, declared the opinion of Atha- 
nasius to be the true (ortliodox) faith of the Church ; but the German 
nations, the Goths, Vandals, Longobards, to whom Christianity had been 
brought by Arian missionaries, continued in Arianism for another century, 
and were therefore excommunicated and driven out as heretics from the 
Catholic (universal) Church. An equally important dispute arose in the 
fifth century, about original sin and predestination, since Augustine, 
Bishop of north Africa, laid down the principle that the nature of man, 
through Adam's fall, has become unable to do good by its own strength ; 
that this strength is produced only by the grace of God in one portion of 
mankind, while the other remains abandoned to ruin ; so that one man 
may be from the beginning appointed (predestinated) to salvation, ano- 
ther to condemnation. These harsh doctrines were disputed by Pela- 
gius, a monk residing in Africa, and the principle maintained, that man 
can, by the strength of his own free will, do good, and become a partaker 
of salvation. — The Christian writei's of the first five or six centuries 
were called Fathers of the Church. Their works are the more im- 
portant, because on them depend the traditional doctrines of the Catholic 
Cliurch. The nearer, therefore, they stand to the time of the Apostles, 
the greater is their authority, as we assume that the disciples of Jesus 
made many oral communications to their contemporaries, which are not 
found in the apostolic writings, but might well be known from the works 
of the Fathers. They wrote partly in Greek and partly in Latin. 
Constautius, § 175. Of Constantine's three vicious sons, who, according 
A. D. 357-360. to their father's will, divided the empire, Constantius, after 
long years of bloody struggles, obtained the sole sovereignty. As he 
was himself busied in Asia, he sent his cousin, Julian, to Gaul, to protect 
the frontiers of the empire against the Germanic nations. 
Julian besieged the Allemanni in Strasburgh, twice passed 
the Rhine, repulsed the Franks in the Netherlands, and restored the an- 
cient renown of the Roman arms. Proclaimed emperor by 
his soldiers in his favorite city, Paris, Julian marched against 
Constantius, and a civil war would have ensued, had not the latter died 
Julian just at this crisis. Julian now without hinderance entered 

A. D. 361-363. the imperial castle in Constantinople, as sovereign of the 
vast empire. lie immediately removed all the superfluous officers of the 
court, reduced the imperial household, and in his dress and mode of liv- 
ing studied the greatest simplicity ; he provided for the impartial adminis- 
tration of justice, and restored discipline and military virtue in the army. 



THE MIGRATION OP NATIONS. 117 

Strongly as he worked by these means on an indolent generation, yet his 
zeal to revive paganism hindered the success of his efforts. The con- 
straint which he endured in his youth under Christian masters had pro- 
duced in him an aversion to the Gospel ; whilst his lively imagination, 
and his love for Plato's philosophy (§ 65, 72), and for the literature and 
poetry of antiquity, made him a most enthusiastic admirer of paganism. 
For this reason he was branded by Christian Avriters with the title of 
Apostate. Nevertheless, he was too just and too wise to inflict bloody 
persecutions on the Chi-istians. He contented himself with removing 
them from his presence, and from public and professional offices, oppos- 
ing their opinions in writings, and reestablishing the heathen worship, 
with its feasts and sacrifices. He himself sometimes offered solemn 
hecatombs of 100 bulls to the god of the sun. Having, however, with 
the heroism of old Rome, undertaken an adventurous campaign against 
the New Persians, he pressed forward victorious over the Euphrates and 
Tigris; but being entrapped into an inaccessible mountainous district, 
and compelled to commence a difficult retreat, he was wounded mortally 
Jovian, by an arrow, and his schemes brought to nought. His suc- 

A. D. 363-364. ggggQj. J(5vian, in a dishonorable peace, restored the conquer- 
Valens ^^ territory, and made Christianity again the dominant re- 

A.D. 864-378. ligion. After his death, the empire was divided, the Arian 
■rr , .. • Valens rulins; over the East, whilst his brother, the rude and 
A. D. 364-395. warlike Valentinian I., governed the West. 



II. THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS. 

1. THEODOSIUS THE GREAT. 

§ 176. When Valens was ruling the East, the Huns, a wild, hideous, 
well-mounted nomad people, came from the steppes of Central Asia to 
Europe. After the overthrow of the Alani, the brave East Goths (whose 
gray-haired king, Hermaurich, devoted himself to death), conquered them 
and then fell upon the West Goths. But this people having been already 
converted to Arian Christianity by Bishop Ulfilas, obtained permission 
from Valens to cross the Danube, with their wives and children, and to 
occupy new abodes. Through the venality of the Roman officers, the 
West Goths, contrary to agreement, remained in possession of their 
arms ; and as, from the severity and avarice of the governor, they soon 
fell into the greatest distress from hunger, they seized the accustomed 
sword, stormed the city of Marciandpolis, and carried robbery and deso- 
lation through the land. Valens marched hastily against the enemy; 
but in the murderous battle of Adriandple he lost the victory, and his 



118 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Kfe, during tlie fliglit, in a burning hut. The victors now roved through 
the defenceless land -with unrestrained fury, as far as the Julian Alps, 
and menaced even the frontiers of Italy. Then was the brave Spaniard 
Theoddsius chosen sovereign of the East. He terminated the Gothic 
war, by settling one part of the enemy in the southern Danubian pro- 
vinces, and enlisting another part as soldiers in the Roman armies. After 
many contests and military exploits, Theoddsius, henceforth called the 
Great, at length obtained the sovereignty of the West also, and so united, 
for the last time, the whole world-wide Roman empire under one sceptre. 
He was a powerful, but passionate prince ; and on one occasion, in Thes- 
salom'ca, he put to death 7,000 citizens, because they had slain his gover- 
nor. For this, the Church's penance was inflicted on him by the un- 
daunted bishop, Ambrose, of Milan, — a punishment which he willingly 
underwent. Theoddsius was a zealous champion of the Catholic faith. 
He denounced and persecuted Arianism, interdicted the use of sacrifices 
and divinations, and permitted the heathen temples to be plundered and 
destroyed. Now was extinguished the sacred fire of Vesta — the oracles 
and sibyls were silent — and the pagan pantheism yielded to the faith in 
the crucified Saviour. At his death, Theoddsius made over the East, with 
Illyria, to his son, Arcadius, who was eighteen years old, by whose side 
stood the Gaul, Rufi'nus ; while Hondrius, then in his eleventh year, 
under the guidance of the politic and warlike Vandal, Stilicho, was to 
be lord of the West. From this time forward the empire remained 
divided. 

2.. W^EST GOTHS. — BURGUNDIANS. VANDALS. 

§ 177. Envy of Stilicho induced Rufinus to provoke the valiant Alaric, 

king of th"e West Goths, to invade the provinces of the Western empire. 

The Goths marched forthwith, murdering and plundering, through 

Thessaly, Central Greece, and Peloponnesus, and trod under foot the 

remains of Greek civilization, until, being surrounded by 

A. D. 396. ' ' o J 

Stilicho's forces, they were compelled to retreat. A short 
time after this, Alaric fell upon Upper Italy, pursued his devastating 
course up the banks of the Po, but suffered so much loss in two undeci- 
sive battles against Stilicho, that he retreated upon Illyria, 

A. D. 403. • n ^ I J ' 

to wait for a more favorable opportunity. This enemy of 
the empire had scarcely been repulsed, before vast hordes of pagan Ger- 
mans, Vandals, Burgundians, and Suevi, &:c., burst into Italy, under the 
command of duke Radagaisus, destroyed the towns and villages, and 
filled every place -Vvith cruel slaughter and desolation. But these also 

were overcome near Florence, by the military skill of Stilicho. 

A. D. 406. mil 

1 heir leaders were killed; thousands fell beneath the swords 
of the victors, or perished by hunger and disease ; others entered into the 
Roman service. The remains of their army threw themselves into Gaul, 



THE MIGRATION OP NATIONS. 119 

where, after repeated acts of devastation, the Burgundians settled on the 
Rhine and the Jura, and founded the kingdom of Burgundy, which ex- 
tended from the Mediterranean to the Vosges. The Vandals and Suevi, 
on the other hand, crossed the Pyrenees, and won dwelling-places for 
themselves Ly the sword, in Spain and Portugal, which they however 
gave up again twenty years afterwards, and crossed over into Africa with 
the Vandal king, Genseric. 

§ 178. The brave Stflicho, in his necessity, had entered into a friendly 
alliance with Alaric, and consented to pay him a yearly tribute. His 
enemies founded an accusation of high treason upon this, and procured 
his execution at Ravenna. Hereupon, Alaric, enraged at the withdrawal 
of the tribute, and appealed to by Stflicho's adherents for protection, 
marched into Italy, laid siege to Rome, and compelled the terrified in- 
habitants to purchase the clemency of the conqueror with gold,^ilver, and 
costly apparel. But when the court at Ravenna disdainfully rejected 
Alaric's proposals of peace, the Gothic prince again appeared before the 
walls of the former mistress of the world, stormed it at length 
during the night, and surrendered it to be plundered for 
three days by his army. The hero died shortly after, in the flower of his 
age, in Lower Italy. There is a legend that declares that>«his coffin and 
treasures were buried in the bed of the stream Busento, Avhich had been 
diverted from its course for the purpose. His brother-in-law, Adolf, 
concluded a treaty with Ilonorius, by virtue of which the West Goths 
marched into Southern Gaul. It was here, that they founded 

A. D. 412. 

the kingdom of the West Goths, which at first extended from 
the Garonne to the Ebro, and had Tolosa (Toulouse) for its principal 
city. When, however, the Vandals, some years later, went into Africa, 
the West Goths gradually conquered the whole of Spain ; but, on the 
other hand, were compelled to relinquish the territory between the 
Pyrenees and the Garonne to the Franks. 

Valentinian ^ ■''^^'^' Honorius followed Valenti'nian IIL, with -^'tius 

III., A. D. 425 at his side, for general and influential minister. The go- 
-455. vernor of northern Africa, Bonifacius, lived in enmity with 

this -3S'tius ; and being afraid of his anger, he rebelled, and summoned 
the Vandals, under their bold and crafty king, Genseric, out of Spain, 
to his assistaoce. li is true, that, upon their arrival, he repented of 
this rash act, and opposed them with his forces. But the warlike 
Vandals overcame, him, and, in defiance of the court of Ravenna, made 
themselves masters of norihern Africa, where they established the empire 
of the Vandals, with its capital, Carthage, conquered Sicily and the 
Balearic islands, and rendered themselves formidable to all islands and 
lands near the coast by their piracies. The kingdom of the Vandals 
existed for a hundred years in ncrth Africa. Genseric died in 477. 



120 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

3. ATTILA, KING OF THE HUNS (a. D. 450.) 

§ 180. About the middle of the fifth century, Attila, surnamed the 
Scourge of God, left his wooden residence on the banks of the Theiss, in 
Hungary, for the purj)ose of conquering the western empire of Rome by 
the sword. More than half a million savage Avarriors, partly Huns and 
partly Germans, who were their subjects or allies, marched through 
Austria, Bavaria, and Alemannia, to the Rhine, where they annihilated 
the royal house of Burgundy in Worms, destroyed the Roman towns, 
and then carried slaughter and desolation into Gaul. It was here that 
the valiant ^'tius, with an army composed of Romans, Burgundians, 
West Goths, and Franks, succeeded, in the Catalaiinian 
i:)lains (Chalons on the Marne), in setting a limit to Attila's 
victorious course. 162,000 dead bodies, and among them that of the 
brave king of the West Goths, covered the field of battle. From his 
camp, fortified with wagons, the Hun bade defiance to the attacks of the 
enemy, and then retreated into Hungary (Panndnia), with 
the purpose of invading Italy in the following year. Aqui- 
leia was destroyed ; Milan, Pavia, Verona, and Padua taken by storm ; 
and the fertile banks of the Po turned into a desert. The unfortunate 
inhabitants of Aquileia sought for refuge on the rocks and sxind-islands of 
the lagunes, and thus laid the foundation of Venice. Attila was already 
on his mai-ch towards Rome, where he was induced by the prayers of the 
Roman bishop, Leo I., to conclude a peace with Valentinian, and to 
retreat. Attila's sudden death, either by haemorrhage, or the vengeance 
of his Burgundian bride, checked the progress of the Hunnish empire. 
The Ostrogoths, the Gepida?, and the Longobards obtained their inde- 
pendence after a severe struggle, whilst the remains of the nomadic Huns 
were lost in the rich pastoral steppes of southern Russia. 

4. DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 

§ 181. The Roman power was now rapidly approaching to its fall. 
Valentinian with his own hand killed ^'tius, the last support of the em- 
pire. Shortly after, the luxurious emperor lost his own life by Petrdnius 
Maximus, whose wife he had corrupted. Petrdnius, raised to be Valen- 
tinian's successor, aspired to the hand of the imperial widow, which in- 
duced the latter to summon the Vandals against the murderer of her 
husband. Genseric landed at Ostia, took Rome, and subjected the city 
for fourteen days to plunder, during which time the works of art were 
ruthlessly mutilated (Vandalism). Laden with plunder and prisoners 
(the empress and her two daughters among the number), the Vandals 
returned to the coast of Africa, where they resumed their piratical em- 
ployments with more audacity than before. After some time, the Sueve, 
Ricimer, a bold, crafty, but blood-stained man, acquired such power, that 



THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS. 121 

to the day of his death, he managed the crown and empire at his pleasure, 
without even assuming the imperial title. Three years after Ricimer's 
death, the ambitious general, Orestes, invested his son, Romulus Augus- 
tulus, with the powerless crown. Upon this, the German troops in the 
pay of the Romans demanded a third part of the lands of Italy ; and 
when this was not granted, the valiant Odoacer commanded the captive 
Orestes to be put to death, and, by assuming the title of King of Italy, 
put an end to the Western empire of Rome. Odoacer be- 
' ' " stowed a yearly pension, and a' residence in Lower Italy, 

upon the inoffensive Romulus Augustulus. 

5. THEODORIC THE OSTROGOTH (a. D. 500). 

§ 182. Odoacer had reigned, not without renown, for twelve years, 
when Theddoric, king of the Ostrogoths, with the consent of the Byzan- 
tine emperor, marched from the Danube upon Italy. He was followed 
by 200,000 men fit for war, with their wives, children, and goods. 
Odoacer was unable to resist this force. Overcome by Th.eodoric near 
Verona, he concealed himself behind the walls of Ravenna ; and it was 
only after a gallant defence of three years that he at length surrendered 
upon honorable conditions. But he was killed not long after, by the 
Goths, at a riotous banquet. From this time, the empire of the Ostro- 
goths, which extended from the southern point of Italy to the Danube, 
was governed wisely and justly by Theddoric, from Ravenna. He paid 
respect to the ancient laws and institutions, employed the original inha- 
bitants of the country in trade, agriculture, and commerce, and com- 
mitted war and the use of ai'ms to the Goths. Even literature and 
civilization rejoiced in his protection ; and learned Romans, like the 
historian Cassioddrus, were advanced to the highest offices of the state. 
Theddoric's authority was so great abroad, that contending kings brought 
their differences to his judgment seat. It was only a short time previous 
to his death, that he was rendered cruel by suspicion, and commanded 
the worthy senator Boethius, and his father-in-law, Symmachus, to be 
executed, because they were suspected of having invited the Byzantine 
court to expel the Goths. It was in prison that Boethius wrote his cele- 
brated work, the " Consolations of Philosophy." 

6. CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS AND THE MEROVINGIANS. 

§ 183. The Franks, a tribe of German origin, had marched from their 

hereditary possessions on the Lower Rhine to the Meuse and the Sambre. 

From this place, their wai'like king, Clovis, led them forth to war and 

plunder. After he had conquered and put to death the last Roman 

governor, Sytigrius, in Soissons, and made himself master of 

A. D. 4S6. y J r> ■> 7 

the country between the Seine and the Loire, he advanced 
against the Alemanni, who were in possession of an extensive kingdom 
11 



122 HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

on both banks of the Rhine. He defeated them in the great battle of 
Zulpich (between Bonn and Aix), and subjected their 
country on the Moselle and the Lahn. In the heat of 
the battle, Clovis had sworn, that if the doubtful combat should ter- 
minate in his favor, he would embrace the faith of his Christian wife ; 
and in the same year, he, with 3,000 nobles of his train, received baptism 
in the waters of the Rhine. But Christianity produced no emotions of 
pity in his savage heart. After he had extended the Frank 
' ' empire to the Rhone on the east, and to the Gar6nne on the 
south, he attempted to secure the whole territory to himself and his pos- 
terity, by putting to death the chiefs of all the Frank tribes. 

§ 184. The wickedness of the father was inherited by his four sons. 
who, after Clovis's death, divided the Frank empire between them ; the 
eldest received the eastern kingdom, Austrasia, with the capital, Metz ; 
the three younger sons shared the western territory, Neustria, and Bur- 
gundy, which was connected with it. But the empire was again from 
time to time united. The history of the kingly house of the Merovingian? 
displays a frightful picture of human depravity. The murders of bro- 
thers and relatives, bloody civil wars, and the explosion of unbridled 
passions, fill its annals. The savage enormities of the two queens, Bi'un- 
hilda and Fredigonda, are particulai'ly dreadful. These horrors at length 
destroyed all the power of the race of Clovis, so that they are distin- 
guished in history as sluggish kings, whilst the steward of the royal pos- 
sessions (mayor of the palace) gradually obtained possession of all the 
powers of government. A visit to the yearly assemblies of the people 
(Marzfelder), upon a carriage drawn by four oxen, was at last the only 
occupation of the imbecile Merovingians. At first, each of the three 
kingdoms had its own mayor, until the brave and shrevrd Pepin von 
Heristal succeeded in uniting the mayoralties of Neustria and Burgundy 
with that of Austrasia, and making them hereditary in his own family. 
From this time, Pepin's descendants, who were called dukes of Fran- 
conia, possessed the regal power, whilst the Merovingians were kings in 



nothing but the name. 



7. THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 



§ 185. About the middle of the fifth century, the Roman army left 
Britain, which it was unable any longer to retain. The inhabitants, who 
were too weak to resist the attacks of the wild Picts and Scots (§ 159, 
168), sought assistance from the Angles and Saxons of the Lower Elbe. 
These obeyed the summons ; but after they had repulsed the enemy, they 
turned their swords against the Britons themselves, and, after a fearful 
contest, subdued their country, which was henceforth called England 
(Angle-land). The greater number of the Celtic inhabitants perished 
by the sword ; those who were able took refuge in Gaul (Bretagne). It 



THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS. 123 

was only in the mountainous districts of Wales and Cornwall that the 
Celts asserted their independence and national peculiarities, till as late 
as the thirteenth century. The rest of the kingdom fell into the power 
of the Anglo-Saxons, who established there seven small monarchies. 
These existed in a separate state, in the midst of perpetual contests, till 
the ninth century, when Egbert united the seven kingdoms 
(Heptarchy), and assumed the title of King of England. 
The paganism of Germany had yielded to Christianity as early as the 
seventh century, when the Benedictine monk, Augustine, with a crowd 
of missionaries, landed in Kent, led the king and his nobles to baptism, 
and founded the seat of the archbishopric of Canterbury. 

8. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND THE LONGOBARDS. 

§ 186. The Byzantine empire displays a melancholy picture of moral 
depravity. A court filled with oriental luxury and magnificence, where 
women and favorites raise and dethrone weak or vicious emperors by 
crimes or intrigues ; an insolent body-guard, who carried on the same 
audacious game Avith the crown that the praetorians had formerly done ; 
and a fickle population, who took pleasure in nothing but questions of 
religious controversy, and the rude sports of the race-course (hippd- 
dromus). In these race-courses, two great parties, who mortally hated 
and persecuted each other, distinguished themselves, according to the 
colors of the chai-iot drivers, into the Blue and the Green. It was under 
Justinian these circumstances, that Justinian, a man of low origin, 
A. D. 527-565. ascended the throne, where he completed several great 
undertakings. He subdued the Green party, that had raised an insur- 
rection against him, and closed the race-course for ever ; he ordered the 
code of laws, known by the name of Corpus Juris and Pandects, to be 
prepared by his minister, Tribonian ; he procured silk-worms from 
China by an artifice, and transplanted the manufacture of silk into 
Europe ; he built the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, and he 
persecuted the heathens and Arians. 

§ 187. Both the Vandals and Goths had made a profession of Arian- 
ism. Hence Justinian embraced the project of visiting them with war, 
and, by the conquest of their lands, of restoring his empire to the same 
extent it had possessed under Constantine. Belisai'ius, the great hero of 
his time, subdued in a few months the kingdom of the Vandals, which 
was already disturbed by a religious war, and carried the last king, Geli- 
mer, a prisoner to Constantinople. About this time, Thed- 
doric's noble daughter, Amalasunta, was murdered by her 
dastardly husband. Hereupon Justinian assumed the part of her aven- 
ger, and sent Belisarius to Italy. Belisarius took Rome, and defended 
it with military skill and heroic courage for a twelvemonth 
against the Gothic king, Vitiges. The Goths, filled with 



124 HISTOliy OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

amazement at the courage of Belisanus, offered liim the sovereign 
authority, and delivered up to him the chief city, Ravenna. He took 
possession of it in the name of the emperor, but did not, nevertheless, 
escape the envy and calumny of the Byzantine courtiers. He was 
recalled in the midst of a course of victories, to defend the eastern fron- 
tier against the Persians. After his departure, the Goths, 
according to the German custom, raised the valiant Totila 
upon a shield, and saluted him as king. Totila soon reconcpiered the 
whole of Italy. Belisarius again made his appearance, but, being 
slenderly sirpplied with money and troops by the suspicious emperor, 
with all his courage he could effect but little. Justinian angrily sum- 
moned him back, and punished him with his displeasure. He is said, 
when a blind old man, to have supported his life by begging alms. 
His successor was Narses, a dexterous courtier, but a hero like Beli- 
sarius. Narses gained a victory at Tagina, near the ancient Sentinum 
(§ 110), where Totila and the bravest of his warriors died in the field. 
It "vvas in vain that the remainder of the Goths raised the valiant Tejas 
upon the royal shield; he also, after many bloody encounters, 
fell at the head of his nobles, near the ancient Cuma3 ; and 
it was only a small band who sought an unknown dwelling-place upon 
the farther side of the Alps. 

§ 188. Henceforth, Xarses, as the emperor's lieutenant, governed the 
conquered country from Ravenna. But when Justinian died, and his 
successor deprived Xarses of his office, he called the Longobards out of 
Pannonia (Hungary), a short time before his death. These advanced 
to the neighborhood of the Po, Avliich received from them the name of 
Lombardy, under the warlike Alboin. Pavia was taken by assault after 
a siege of three years, and erected into the capital of the Lombard king- 
dom. Alboin died by the bloody Aengeance of his wife, the beautiful 
Eosamunda. He had killed her father, the king of the Gepida?. some 
years before in battle, and, in accordance Avith the German custom, had 
had his skull fashioned into a goblet. He once compelled his daughter, 
during a festival, to drink from this cup, a proceeding that so enraged 
her that she procured his assassination. The rude Longobards treated 
the natives with violence, and deprived them of the greater part of their 
possessions. But the fruitful fields were soon brought to a splendid state 
of cultivation by the sturdy arms of German laborers. A powerful 
nobility of dukes and counts stood at the head of this nation, who elected 
their kings in the assemblies of the people (Maifeldern). The Longo- 
bard kingdom remained independent for two centuries. 

§ 189. The glory that Justinian had shed upon the Byzantine empire, 
was soon obscured by the depravity of the court. Wicked princes 
ascended the blood-stained throne in the midst of the most revolting hor- 
rors; deprivation of the eyes, mutilation of the nose and ears, Avere 



THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS. 125 

tilings of daily occurrence in this God-forsaken court. "With all this, 
Constantinople remained, through the whole of the middle ages, the seat 
of learning and refinement, and the Byzantine history confirms a fact de- 
rived from experience, that external civilization and a refined manner of 
living are frequently conjoined with barbarousness of mind and de- 
pravity of morals. The affairs of the Church always excited the great- 
est interest at Constantinople. When the increasing veneration for 
images and relics threatened to establish a new form of idolatry, inas- 
Leo the much as the ignorant people worshipped the images them- 

Isaurian, selves, Leo the Isaurian issued a command to remove them 
A. D. 717-741. altogether from the churches. This gave rise to a storm 
that shook throne and emj)ire for more than a century. Two parties, the 
image worshippers (Iconoduli) and the image breakers (Iconoclasts) stood 
Constantino ^" hostile opposition to each other, Leo's energetic son, 
Copronymus, Constantine Copronymus, followed his father's example. He 
A. D. 741-745. jjad the worship of images condemned by a council of the 
Church, and punished the refractory by death and banishment. His son 
Leo IV., A. D. also, Leo IV., belongs to the number of iconoclastic empe- 
775-780. rors. But after his sudden death, his wife, Irene, abrogated 
Irene, the former resolutions by a new council, and restored to the 

A. D. 800. churches their ornaments of images. This violent woman 
put out the eyes of her own son from motives of ambition, and was 
meditating a union with Charlemagne, when she was hurled from the 
throne by a conspiracy. She died in misery at Lesbos. A later at- 
j^gQ^jjg^^j.jj^g_ tempt to remove images from the churches, undertaken by 
nian, A. D. Leo the Armenian and his successors, w'as less violent, and 
813-820. -^as interrupted by the empress Theodora. Shortly after, a 
new imperial house ascended the throne, in the person of Basilius the 

Macedonian, which ruled with little interruption for 200 
A. D. 867. ' ^ , , . ^ 

years, and restored some strength to the empire. In the 

West, the decrees against images were not recognized. 



n. MOHAMMED AND THE ARABIANS. 

§ 190. On the south-western coast of the peninsula of Arabia, which, 
on account of its great fertility in coffee, frankincense, cinnamon, and 
other spices, is called Arabia Felix, lived for ages, in proud independ- 
ence, a people capable of civilization. Their religion was a rude pagan- 
ism ; a black stone in the Caaba at Mecca served as the national palladi- 
um, the care of which belonged to the Koreishites. They were rendered 
rich by an extensive commerce, and took pleasure in mental cultivation 

11* 



126 HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

and poetry. It M-as in the midst of this people that Mohammed was 
Mohammed, horn, towards the end of the sixth century, from the re- 
A. D. 571 - 632. spected priestly race of the Koreishites. During his youth, 
he made journeys with the caravans into foreign'lands in the capacity of 
merchant, and thus became convinced that the religion of the Jews and 
Christians must be preferable to the idolatrous worslaip of the Arabs. 
As soon, therefore, as he had acquired an independent position by his 
marriage with a rich widow, he withdrew from the bustle of the world, 
to the recesses of his own bosom, and sought how he might elevate his 
countrymen from their degradation. The expectation entertained by the 
Jews of a Messiah, the promise of Christ to send a Comforter to those 
who loved him, who should guide them into all truth, wrought upon his 
ardent imagination, and excited within him the conviction, that he must be 
the person of whom the world stood in need. His epileptic fits favored 
the pretence that he held communion with angels, and was the subject of 
divine inspiration. 

§ 191. In his fortieth year, Mohammed came forth with his doctrine, 
"There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." But with the 
exception of his wife, his father-in-law Abu Bekii", his son-in-law Ali, 
and a few of his friends and relations, no one at first believed in his 
mission ; nay, he was even compelled, by a menacing tumult, to fly from 
Mecca to Medina. (The Mohammedans reckon their years 
"""from this event, which is called Hejira.) He here found 
adherents with whom he undertook expeditions, and at length, after some 
victorious encounters, he forced his return to Mecca. In Medina he 
composed a part of the sentences of which the holy book of the Koran con- 
sists. Mecca soon acknowledged him as a prophet, and his doctrine, 
called Islam, was soon predominant all over Arabia. He combined in it 
the fundamental doctrines of Judaism and Christianity, with maxims that 
were adapted to the East. He commanded frequent ablutions and 
prayers, circumcision, fasts, almsgiving, and pilgrimages to Mecca, forbade 
the use of wine and swine's flesh, and sanctioned polygamy. A chief 
commandment of the Koran was, to diffuse Islam by every means, and 
to compel the nations to receive it by fire and sword. Those who fell 
bravely in battle were promised a paradise of sensual enjoyments. The 
prophet died in the eleventh year of the Hejira. Mecca, where he was 
born, and Medina, the place where his grave is situated, are regarded as 
sacred cities of pilgrimage. Mohammed united gravity and dignity 
in his carriage and bearing ; he was benevolent, simple in his manner of 
living, and not devoid of domestic virtues ; but he was too much addicted 
to women. 

§ 192, Ali, the husband of the favorite daughter of the prophet, hoped 
Abu Bekir to become Mohammed's successor (Khalif). But Moham- 
A.D. 632-634. med's intriguing wife, Ayesha, procured the election of her 



THE MIGRATION OF NATIONS. 127 

father Abu Bekir, who was succeeded by the simple and energetic Omar. 
Omar Under this man, tlie Arabs, inspired by their new faith, 

A. D. 634-644. carried their victorious swords beyond the Hmits of Arabia. 
Palestine and Syria were conquered, and Mohammed's warriors marched 
into the Christian cities of Antioch, Damascus, and Jerusalem. Kaled, 
"the sword of God," and the crafty Amru conducted the valiant bands. 
Persia was subjected, after a succession of bloody engage- 
ments. The last king, Yesdejird fled (as once Darius before 
Alexander), with the sacred fire in his hand, to the mountainous high- 
lands, where he perished by the hands of an assassin. The Arabs now 
pursued their victorious course through the eastern highlands, and car- 
ried the doctrines of Mohammed to the Upper Indus. The Persian fire- 
worship fell before the Koran, and henceforth, Islam was the ruling 
religion of the East. The new cities of Basra, Cufa, and Bagdad, on the 
Tigris, soon became the centres of trade, and the seats of oriental luxury 
and magnificence. Shortly after this, Amru marched from 
Syria into Egypt, took Alexandria, (by which means the 
remains of the great library are said to have perished), (§ 125,) burnt 
Memphis, (in the neighborhood of which the chief city, Cairo, took its 
origin from the camp of the general,) and thrust aside the Gosjiel by the 
Koran. 

§ 193. Omar shortly after fell by the dagger of a Persian slave, and 
Othman Othman, the collector and arranger of the Koran, succeeded 

A. D. 644-656. to the Khalifate. But Othman was also assassinated; and 
when Ali at length ascended the sacred chair that had lonsr been his 
right, the family of the Ommiades rose against him and excited a civil 
war, in which Ali and his whole house perished, and the Khalifate was 
taken possession of by the Ommiades, who established their 
residence in the beautiful Damascus. The Arabians prose- 
cuted their conquests under the Ommiades both by land and water. 
Cyprus, Rhodes, Asia Minor, all felt the edge of their swords ; the capital 
of the Byzantine empire had to sustain seven attacks and sieges, and was 
^^o nK- o"'y saved by the newly-discovered Greek fire. The north 

A. D. 66o -6(0. ,. . ^ . ^ 

coast of Africa was subdued at the same time, and the Christ- 
ian religion and civilization there destroyed in the course of a lengthened 
war. The Arabians also gained a firm footing in Sicily, whence they 
made predatory excursions upon the coasts of Italy. 

§ 194. It happened about the beginning of the eighth century of the 
Christian era, that the West Goth, Roderick, deprived his brother of the 
Spanish throne. Hereupon, the sons of the banished man called the 
Arabs into Africa to revenge him. Tarik, the Arabian general, crossed 
the straits of the sea, founded the town of Gibraltar (Gebel al Tarik,) 
^^ and overthrew the West Goths at the battle of Xeres de la 

Frontera, where Roderick and the flower of his chivalry 



128 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

were slain in the field. The Arabians overran the whole of Spain, as far 
as the rocky Asturias, in a rapid course of victories. The Saracens 
crossed the Pyrenees at their side, conquered the south of France as far 
as the Rlione, and threatened France and Christianity with destruction ; 
when Charles Martel, the mayor of the palace of Pepin Heristal (§ 184), 
overthrew thera between Tours and Poitiers, in a battle that 
lasted seven days, and compelled them to fall back upon 
Spain. Charles Martel was thus the savior of Christian Germany in the 
West. 

§ 195. Twenty years after Charles Martel's death, the dynasty of the 

Omraiades was overthrown by the Abbassides, and their 
A. D. 752. "^ 

whole family destroyed. Populous towns sprang up. Atten- 
tion was paid to trade, agriculture, and the rearing of cattle ; mines were 
opened, and the prosperity of the country was displayed in rich villages, 
flourishing farms, and splendid palaces (Alhambra) : arts and sciences 
,„„„ were encouraged. But after the race of the Ommiades 

A. D. 1038. . ^ 

became extinct, the Moorish power in Spain was broken up 
into a number of small states, that gradually yielded before the Christians 
of the North. The latter had enlarged their territories by successful 
wars from their head-quarters, the Asturias, so that, with time, thi-ee 
kingdoms had been established, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, each of 
which existed independently of the other, and waged furious contests 
with the Arabs of the South. These wars produced a spirit of chivalry, 
religious zeal, and freedom among the Christian Spaniards. The deeds 
of these God-inspired warriors, particularly those of the great 
Cid Campeador, were handed down to posterity in heroic 
songs (Romances), and kept alive the courage and chivalrous spirit of 
the Spanish nobility. Civic freedom was at the same time flourishing in 
the cities. The victory gained by the united Christian force at Tolosa, 
in the Sierra Morena, broke forever the power of the Arabians. 

§ 19G. The arts and sciences floui-ished in all the countries inhabited 
by the Arabs, as well as in Spain. Mosques, palaces, and gardens, were 
to be met with in every Arabian town. Industry and commerce brought 
wealth, — the source of refinement, but, at the same time, of the love of 
splendor and efTeminacy. Architecture, music (the system of notes), and 
decorative painting (arabesques), flourished in all the chief Arabian 
towns. The sciences were taught at Cordova, Cairo, Bagdad, Salerno, 
and many other cities ; more particularly, grammar, philosophy, mathe- 
matics, (the Arabian ciphers, algebra), astronomy, and astrology, natural 
philosophy, (chemistry), and medicine. The Arabians translated the 
writings of the Gi'eeks, especially those of Aristotle and Euclid, and cul- 
tivated the art of poetry. The literatui'e and civilization of this people 
had the greatest influence upon the development of the Christian middle 
age. 



THE CARLOVINGI. 129 



B. THE MIDDLE AGE. 

I. THE PERIOD OF THE CAELOVINGI. 

1. PEPIN THE LITTLE (a. D. 752-768); CHARLEMAGNE 

(A. D. 7G8-814.) 

§ 197. The Austrasian duke, Pepin of Heristal, and his son Charles Mar- 
tel, had gained the confidence of the nation by their warlike deeds, and the 
favor of the priests by their zeal in the propagation of Christianity. Botli 
parties were instrumental in raising Pepin the Little, the son of Charles 
Martel, to the throne of the Franks. For when the assembly of the 
nation deposed the last imbecile representative of the JNIerovingians 
(Childeric III.), and proclaimed the chief steward, Pepin, king, the pope 
confirmed the election, in the hope of finding in the Frank ruler a sup- 
port against the Longobards and the iconoclastic emperor of Byzantium. 
In return for the royal consecration, which was first performed by Boni- 
face, and afterwards by Pope Stephen himself, Pepin endowed the Ro- 
man chair with the portion of coast on the Adriatic Sea, soutliwards 
from Ravenna. This was the foundation of the temporal power of the 
pope. 

This Boniface (properly Winfried) was one of those active English 
missionaries, who, under the protection of the first Carlovingian monarchs, 
proclaimed the doctrine of a crucified Redeemer to the rude inhabitants 
of Germany. He preached the Gospel in Hesse, (where he built the 
abbey of Fulda), founded bishoprics and colleges for education among 
the Thuringians, Franks, and Bavarians, and displayed such zeal that he 
obtained the name of the "apostle of the Gei'mans." Having been ap- 
pointed archbishop of Mayence, he undertook in his old age another mis- 
sion to the heathen Finlanders, among whom he met with a violent death. 
All the bishoprics and colleges established by Boniface were closely united 
with the Roman see ; and as these efforts were favored by the Carlovin- 
gian monarchs, the pope, about the year 800, came to be looked upon as 
the head of the Church in Franconia. 

§ 198. Pepin reigned for sixteen years with vigor and renown over 
the Frank empire, which extended far into South and Central Germany, 
and which, at his death, he divided between his two sons, 
Charles and Carloman. When the latter died, about three 
A D 771 years afterwards, Charlemagne was declared sole ruler of the 
Franks, by the voice of the estates of the empire. He con- 
ducted many wars, and advanced Christian cultivation and civil order. 
For the purpose of securing the boundaries of his kingdom and extending 



130 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Christianity, he made war for thirty-one years on the Saxon confedera- 
tion, whicli was formed by various pagan tribes on the Weser and Elbe. 

Charles took the fortress of Eresbura;, on the south of the 
A. D. 772. . 

Teutoburger forest, destroyed the national palladium — the 

statue of Arminius, and compelled the Saxons to a peace. He next pro- 
ceeded against the Longobard king, Desiderius, in obedience to the sum- 
mons of Pope Adrian. With an army collected together near Geneva, 
lie crossed the St. Bernard, stormed the passes of the Alps, and conquered 

Pavia. Desiderius ended his days in a cloister. Charles 
A. B. 774. . . 

erected the Lombard throne in Milan, united Upper Italy 

to the kingdom of the Franks, and confirmed the gifts made by Pepin 
to the pope. 

§ 199. During the absence of Charles, the Saxons had expelled the 
Frank garrisons and reestablished their ancient boundaries. Charles 
again marched into their country, subdued them, and com- 
pelled the chiefs of the tribes to submit at Paderborn. Their 
warlike duke, Witikind, alone, fled to the Danes and refused to confinii 
the treaty. In the two following years, Chai'les fought against the 
Moors in Spain, took Pampelona and Saragossa, and united the whole 
country, as far as the Ebro, to his own kingdom, as a Spanish province. 
But during his return, his rear, under the command of Roland, suffered 
a defeat in the valley of Roncesvalles, in which the bravest champions 
of the Franks were destroyed. Roland's battle at Roncesvalles was a 
favorite theme with the poets of the middle ages. The Saxons took ad- 
vantage of his absence to make a fresh insurrection, and pursued their 
devastating course as far as the Rhine. Charles hastened to the spot, 
gave them repeated overthrows, and subdued their land afresh. But 
when he attempted to employ them as militia against the Slavonic tribes 
in the East, they fell upon the Frank troops who were marching with 
them, at the Suntal (between Hanover and Hameln), and slew them. 
This demanded vengeance. The Frank emperor marched thi-ough the 
land, plundering and destroying, and then held a court of judgment at 
Verden on the AUer. 4,500 prisoners expiated with their blood the 
crime of their bi-ethren. Upon this, hostilities were resumed with fresh 
violence. But the battle on the Ilase, which terminated to the disadvan- 
tage of the Saxons, put an end to the war. Witikind and the other chiefs 
took an oath of fbalty and military service, and allowed themselves to be 
baptized. The people followed their example. Eight bishoprics (Osna- 
bruck, Minden, Verden, Bremen, Paderborn, Munster, Plalberstadt, Hil- 
dersheim,) provided for the maintenance and extension of Christianity 
among the Saxons. Another insurrection, however, was occasioned a 
few years afterwards, by the oppressive arriere-ban* and the unwonted 

* The summons to n,ll the tenants, even those of secondaiy rank, to quit their occupa- 
tions, and follow the king to the wars. Am. Ed. 



THE CARLOVINGI. 131 

payment of tithes to the Church, which resuhed in 10,000 Saxon families 
being carried away from their homes, and colonies of Franks being 
established in their place. To oppose the Slavonic tribes to the east of 
the Elbe, Charles founded the Margraviate* of Bradenburg. 

§ 200. Shortly after, Thassilo, duke of Bavaria, attempted 
to render himself independenf of the Frank power, by the 
assistance of the Avars who lived to the east. He was overpowered, 
and expiated his breach of faith by perpetual confinement within the 
walls of the cloisters of Fulda. Bavaria was hereupon incorporated 
with the Frank empire, and Charles established the Eastern Margraviate 
as a check upon the wild Avars. When Charlemagne had reduced all 
the lands from the Ebro and the Appenines to the Eider, and from the 
Atlantic Ocean to the Eaab and the Elbe, he repaired to Rome at the 
conclusion of the century. It was here that, during the festival of 
Christmas, he was invested with the crown of the Roman empire, in the 
church of St. Peter, by Leo III., whom he had defended against a 
mob of insurgents. It was hoped, that by this means, western Christen- 
dom might be formed into a single body, of which the Pope was to be- 
come the spiritual, and Charles the secular head. It was at this time 
that the long-existing variance between the AVestern (Roman Catholic), 
and the Eastern (Greek Catholic) churches, terminated in a complete 
separation. 

§ 201. The domestic policy of Charlemagne was not less fertile of 
results than the foreign. 1. He improved the government and the ad- 
ministration of justice by abolishing the ofRce of duke, dividing the whole 
kingdom into provinces, and appointing counts and deputies for the con- 
duct of the affairs of justice, and clerks of the treasury for the manage- 
ment of the crown lands and the collection of imposts. The laws were 
confirmed by the popular assemblies (maifeldern), in which every free- 
man had a share. 2. He promoted the cultivation of the land, and the 
education of the people. Agriculture and the breeding of cattle were 
encouraged, farms and villages sprang up, and baiTcn heaths were con- 
verted into arable fields. He founded conventual schools and cathe- 
drals, had the works of the ancient Roman writers transcribed, and 
formed a collection of old German heroic ballads. Learned men, like 
the British monk, Alcuin, and the historian Eginhard, from the Oden- 
v/ald, had ample reason to congratulate themselves on his encouragement 
and support. 3. He favored the clergy and the church. It was by his 
means that the former obtained their tithes and vast gifts and legacies ; 
church music was improved, missionaries supported, and churches and 
monasteries erected. Ingelheim on the Rhine, and Aix, were Charles's 
favorite places of residence. He lies buried in the latter town. 

* A IMai-grave (Mai-quis) was a Count of the frontier, the frontier being called the Mark 
(March). Am. Ed. 



132 HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

2. DISSOLUTION OF THE FRANK EMPIRE. 

Louis the § ^02. The son of Charlemagne, Louis the Debonnaire 

Debonnairc, (the Gentle), was better fitted for the repose of a cloister 
A. D. 814-840. ^l-jj^j-j fQj. ^}-,g government of a warlike nation. A too hasty 
division of his kingdom among his three sons, Lothaire, Pepin, and 
Louis, was the occasion of much sorrow to himself, and confusion to the 
empire. For when, at a later period, he proposed an alteration in favor 
of his fourth son, Charles (the Bald), the fruit of a second 
marriage, the elder sons took up arms against their father. 
Louis, faithlessly deserted by his vassals on "the field of lies," near 
Strasburg, and betrayed to his own sons, was compelled by Lothaire to do 
penance in the church, and to abdicate his throne ; and was afterwards 
shut up for some time in a cloister. It is true that Louis procured his 
father's reinstatement ; but when the weak emperor, after the death of 
Pepin, by a new division of the kingdom, deprived Louis of Germany, 
in favor of his brothers, Lothaire and Charles, Louis raised his stand- 
ard against him. This broke the old emperor's heart. Full 
of sorrow, he ended his days on a small island of the Rhine, 
near Ligelheim. The hostile brothers noAV turned their arms against 
each other. A bloody civil war depopulated the country, so that at last, 
after a battle of three days' duration, at Fontenaille in Burgundy, the 
Frank nobility refused to obey the arriere-lan, and by this 
means brought about the treaty of partition of Verdun. By 
virtue of this treaty, Lothaire received the imperial dignity, together 
Avith Italy, Burgundy, and Lorraine ; Charles the Bald, western Fran- 
conia (France) ; and Louis the Gei'man, the lands on the right bank of 
the Rhine, — Spire, Worms, and Mayence. 

§ 203. This division was followed by a time of great confusion, during 
which, Europe was severely harassed, on the south by the Arabs ; on 
the east, by the Slavi ; and on the north and west, by the Normans. To 
oppose these predatory inroads, the Carlovingian monarchs, who were all 
men of weak and narrow minds, were obliged to restore the ducal office 
in the different provinces, and to sanction the hereditary authority of the 
Margraves, so that, in a short time, all the power fell into the hands of 
the nobles. By the rapid deaths of most of the posterity of Louis the 
(^hai-les the Dcbonnaire, nearly the whole of the empire of Charlemagne 
Fat, A. D. 876 -devolved upon Charles the Fat, a prince weak and indolent, 
^^i^' and simple almost to imbecility. Incapable of resisting the 

valiant Normans, he purchased a disgraceful peace from them. This pro- 
ceeding so exasperated the German princes, that they decreed his depo- 
sition, at Tribur on the Rhine, and elected his nephew, the brave Arnulf, 
Aniulf A. D. ^^ ^^^ successor. Arnulf governed with vigor. He ovei'- 
887 - 898. thi'ew the Romans at Louvain, and called in the aid of the 



NORMANS AND DANES. 133 

wild Magyars, or Hungarians, from the Ural, a people expert in horse- 
manship and archery, and who were now, under their valiant captain, 
Arpad, occupying the plains on the Danube (named after them Hunga- 
ry), against the Slavi and Avars. The Avars were either subjected or 
compelled to retreat. But the strangers (the Hungarians), soon became 
a more dreadful scourge to Germany than either the Slavi or the Avars. 
They made their predatory inroads and exacted a yearly tribute, even 
under Louis the Child, the youthful son of Arnulf, who died in the 
flower of his age, after a glorious campaign in Italy. This still continued, 
when, after the early death of this last of the Carlovingian race, the 
German nobles, among whom the dukes of Saxony, Franconia, Lorraine, 
Conradl. A. D. Swabia, and Bavaria were preeminent for power, met to- 
911-919. gether and elected Duke Conrad of Franconia, emperor. 
Germany thus became an elective empire. 

§ 204. The rule of the Carlovingians survived longest in France, but 
Charles the ^^ possessed neither strength nor dignity. Under Charles 
Simple, A. D. the Simple, who had ascended the French throne after the 
898 - 929. deposition and subsequent death of Charles the Fat, the dukes 
and counts rendered themselves entirely independent, and one of the most 
powerful among them, Hugh of Paris, kept the imbecile king in strict 
confinement. France, on the other hand, was delivered from the devas- 
tating forays of the Normans, by Charles admitting duke Rollo into the 
province named after them, Normandy, upon condition that he and his 
followers would suffer themselves to be baptized, and recognize the king 
as their suzerain (feudal sovereign). The Normans, a people readily 
susceptible of civilization, soon acquired the language, manners, and cus- 
toms of the Franks. Charles the Simple was followed by two other 
kings of the Carlovingian race ; but their power was at last so limited 
that they possessed nothing but the town of Laon, with the surrounding 
country ; every thing else had fallen into the hands of the insolent no- 
Hugh Capet, bility. After the death of the childless Louis V., Hugh 
A. D. 987 -996. Capet, son and heir of Hugh of Paris, assumed the title of 
king, and put to death in pi-ison Louis's uncle, Charles of Lorraine, who 
attempted to assert his right to the throne by force of arms. 



II. NORMANS ANT) DANES. 

§ 205. The inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula belong to the 
German race, and share with it the violent passion for liberty, love of 
action, and disposition to wander, as well as language, religion, and man- 
ners. Divided into numerous tribes, they undertook vast expeditions to 

12 



134 HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

all quarters, and trusted their lives and property on the stormy waves in 
their light rovping vessels. Under the name of Normans, they ravaged the 
coasts of the North Sea, sailed up the mouths of rivers in their small 
ships, and returned laden with booty to their homes ; as Danes, they 
were feared by the English, from whom tliey exacted a heavy tribute 
(Danegeld). The remote island of Iceland was discovered and peopled 
by Norwegians, who founded a flourishing republic there, with the re- 
ligion, language, laws, and institutions of the mother country ; and Nor- 
man Varangians* were invited as rulei'S by the Slavonic inhabitants of 
the shores of the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia. Ruric, the warlike 
prince of the Russians and of the Varangian race, accepted the invita- 
tion, established himself in Novogorod, and became the progenitor of a 
race that ruled over Russia till the end of the sixteenth century, but 
adopted the manners and language of the aborigines. Greenland was 
discovered and peopled from Iceland. Even America is said to have 
been known to the Normans. The Normans loved war, the chase, and 
the exercise of arms ; agriculture and the breeding of cattle they left to 
the Slavi. Good faith was their most prominent virtue, and a love of 
poetry the solitary tender feeling indulged by these rude men. The singers 
(scalds) celebrated the illustrious deeds of their forefathers in melan- 
choly songs and legends. The most celebrated collection of such sacred 
and heroic songs is called the Edda. 

§ 20G. England, under the weak successors of Egbert (§ 185), suffered 
the most severely from the Danes. They plundered the coasts and the 
Alfred the shores of the rivers, and destroyed the Christian churches. 
Great, a. d. Even Alfred the Great was thrust from his throne by them 
871-901. for j^ short time, until he contrived, by dint of cunning, 
courage, and watchfulness, to put an end to their inroads. Crowds of 
them, who had been converted to Christianity, were permitted to settle 
in Northumberland. After this, Alfred devoted himself to the internal 
improvement of his people. Like Charlemagne, he divided his land 
into communities and districts, and placed counts and aldermen over 
them to conduct the affairs of justice ; he founded schools and churches, 
made a collection of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ballads, and translated the 
writings of Bocthius (§ 182). But when the Anglo-Saxon population, 
under his successors, slaughtered several thousands of the Danes in 
Northumberland (the Danish vespers), Sweyn the Fortunate, king of 
Canute the Denmark and Norway, recommenced the predatory incur- 
Great, A. d. sions with such success, that his son, Canute the Great, united 
1017 - I03u. ^i^g English crown to the Danish and Norwegian. lie go- 
verned justly and wisely. After his death, and that of his son Hardica- 
Edwardthe nute, Edward the Confessor, a descendant of the ancient 
1041-1066. I'oyal family, ascended the throne. He had resided a long 

* The name Varangians signifies Corsairs, or Pirates. Am. Ed. 



THE GERMANO-ROMAN EMPIRE. 135 

time in Normandy, and imbibed a preference for French Norman cus- 
toms. It was for this reason, that, during liis reign, he encouraged fo- 
reigners to the prejudice of tJie natives, and appointed William, Duke of 
Normandy, heir to his crown, in the event of his death without issue. 
This was resisted by the nation, who elected the chivalrous Harold to be 
king. But by the battle of Hastings, in which Harold and the 
flower of the Anglo-Saxon nobility fell on the field, William 
the Conqueror was made master of England, where he proceeded with 
great severity to establish a new condition of things. He endowed his 
Norman knights with the estates of the Anglo-Saxon landlords, intro- 
duced the French language and the Norman law, and presented the 
richest benefices of the Church to his friends. 

§ 207. A short time before, Robert Guiscard, a Norman 

noble, had made himself mastei', by his coui-age and cunning, 

of the greater part of Lower Italy. He called himself Duke of Apulia 

and Calabria, and acknowledged the pope as his feudal superior. His 

heroic son, Bohemond, increased this territory by further 

conquests. But Robert's family soon became extinct, upon 

Koo-er n. which his brother's son, Roger II., united Sicily with Lower 

A. D. Italy, obtained from the pope the title of king, and esta- 

1130 -H54. blished the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. For fifty-six 

years, these rich and beautiful lands remained in the possession of Roger 

and his descendants ; they then passed to the house of Hohenstaufen. 



in. THE SUPKEMACY OF THE GERMANO-ROMAJ^ EMPIRE. 
1. THE HOUSE OF SAXONY (919-1024). 

§ 208. The violence of the nobles, and the destructive inroads of 
the Hungarians, had reduced Germany to a wild and lawless state. 
The first freelj- elected emperor, Conrad of Franconia (§ 203), endea- 
vored to correct these evils by harshness and severity, and oi'dered the 
insubordinate Count Erchanger and Berthold von AUemanien to be be- 
headed as examples. But as he saw that his family did not possess suffi- 
cient political influence, he favored the advancement of his powerful 
jjgjjj.y rival, Henry I. (the Fowler), of Saxony. This energetic 

the Fowler, prince enlarged the boundaries of the empire on the north, ■ 
A. D. 919-936. ^vhere he established the march (frontier) of Schleswig 
against the Danes ; on the west, where he again won back Lorraine 
to the empire ; and on the east, where the march of Meissen was in- 
tended to keep the Slavi in check. He purchased a nine years' truce 
from the Magyars, and employed the time in the improvement of the 



A. D. 933. 



136 THE IIISTOKY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

anrij, and in erecting strong fortresses. By the building of these cita- 
dels, which grew up Avith time into towns, Henry became the originator 
of the burgher class, and earned the name of the Founder of Cities. 
Relying on these preparations, he refused the Hungarians, at the termi- 
nation of the truce, the tribute that had hitherto been paid ; and when 
they undertook an expedition for the purpose of revenging 
themselves, he gave them a severe defeat at the battle of 
Merseburg. 

QjjjQ § 209. Otho I. the Great, trod in the steps of his father, 

the Great, He sought, like him, to preserve the peace of the empire by 
A. D. 936-973.(.Qj-,fVjj,j.j,-,g dukedoms and bishoprics on his friends and rela- 
tives ; he also enlarged the bounds of his territories, and diffused Christ- 
ianity ; and when the Hungarians again renewed their inroads upon Ger- 
many, this valiant prince defeated them with such slaughter in the Lechfeld 
near Augsburg, that only a few out of the vast multitude 

A. D. 955. DO'.' 

escaped ; from this time, there was an end of their depreda- 
tions. Christianity, which, towards the end of the century, in the reign 
of the Magyar king, Stephen the Pious, the lawgiver and regulator of 
the country, penetrated even into Hungary, produced gentler manners 
and a more peaceable disposition. Otho's attainment of the imperial dig- 
nity was an occurrence pregnant with results for Germany, 
A. D. 902. -^vhich, from this time, remained part of " the holy Roman 
empire of the German nation." By his marriage with Adelheid, queen 
of Burgundy and Upper Italy, who had appealed to him for protection 
against the attempts of Berenger of Ivrea, Otho gained the kingdom of 
Italy, and was invested in Milan with the Lombard crown. Hereupon 
he proceeded to Rome, obtained the imperial Roman crown, established 
the protectorship of the German emperor over the papal chair, and 
exacted an oath from the Romans, that they would never acknowledge a 
pope without the knowledge and consent of himself or his successors. 
This protectorship the popes were afterwards unwilling to allow to be 
valid. 

Otho n., § 210. The ten years of Otho II.'s reign were filled Avith 

A. D. 973-983. contests with the turbulent nobility in Germany and Italy; 
with the French, who wished to get possession of Lorraine ; and with 
the Greeks in Lower Italy, where he laid claim to the Byzantine pos- 
sessions, as the dowry of his wife Theophania. Being overcome near 
Bassantello, he fell into the hands of the enemy, from whom he only 
Otho m. escaped by his skill in swimming. His son, Otho III., was 

A. D. 983-1002. superior to most of his contemporaries in cultivation and 
learned acquirements, in which he had been instructed by the celebrated 
Gerbert, under the guidance of his mother Theophania, and his grand- 
mother Adelheid, so that he was called the Imperial Prodigy ; but he 
was wanting in the vigor necessary to the ruler of a rude and warlike 



THE HOUSE OP FRANCONIA. 137 

people. His love for Greek and Italian refinement induced him to enter- 
tain the notion of making Rome the metropolis of his kingdom ; but all 
his plans were thwarted by his early death. 

§ 211. After many struggles, Henry II. of Bavaria, a relative of the 
Othos, succeeded him in the empire. His love for the church and the 
clergy, Avhich he displayed more particularly in founding the cathedral 
and bishopric of Bamberg, procured him the surname of Saint. When 
this cathedral was consecrated by the pope in person, it was from his 
hands that the emperor received the signs of his imperial power, the 
sceptre and the golden apple ; and although, during his Roman expe- 
ditions, he exercised the right of protectorship over the holy city, yet 
the ceremonies practised on the occasion afforded a pretext to suc- 
ceeding popes to represent the imperial throne as their fief. Under 
Henry II. and the military bustle of the following age, the civilization 
that had flourished in Magdeburg, Halle, Bremen, and Bardewick, dur- 
ing the reign of the Othos, and under the influence of the foreign 
empress and Otho II.'s sisters, was again extinguished. The mathe- 
matical science of Gerbert, who was versed in Greek and Arabian learn- 
ing, and who was raised to the papal chair, a. d. 999, under the title of 
Sylvester II., the Latin poetry of Khoswitha and others, found little 
encouragement ; nevertheless, the colleges founded by the Othos still 
preserved the germs of civilization. 

2. THE HOUSE OF FRANCONIA. 

§ 212. Conrad II. was more bent upon enlarging his kingdom and 
Conrad 11. obtaining knightly renown, than upon governing in peace. 
A. D. After he had been invested with the iron crown of the Lom- 

1024-1039. bards in Milan, and the imperial diadem in Rome, he added 
to his dominions the kingdom of Burgundy on the Rhone and the Jura. 
This involved him in many quarrels, both with the Burgucdian nobles 
and bishops, who looked upon themselves as independent princes ; and 
with his son-in-law, Ernest of Swabia, who asserted a more valid claim 
to the empire, and raised the standard of rebellion in the south of Ger- 
many, in conjunction with his friend Welf. Both were subdued after a 
long struggle, and the deeds and fate of the chivalrous duke Ernest sup- 
plied the materials for poetry and popular legends. Conrad and his suc- 
cessor lie buried in the cathedral of Spire, of which magnificent struc- 
Henry HI. ture the former was the commencer. Conrad's son, Henry 
A. D. III,^ was a man of great power, under whose reign Germany 

attained its greatest limits ; even Bohemia, Poland, and Hun- 
gary acknowledged the supremacy of the Germano-Roman emperor. For 
the purpose of suppressing the insolence of the turbulent nobles of the 
kingdom, he entertained the project of founding an absolute, imperial, here- 

12* 



138 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

ditary monarchy, and either of abolishing the office of duke in Germany, 
or making it entirely dependent upon the emperor. In the same manner, 
he took advantage of a division in the church to depose the three con- 
tending popes, and to raise the German bishops in succession to the 
papal chair. He attempted to elevate the imperial power above the 
princes of Germany, as well as over the court of Rome. He enforced 
respect throughout his whole kingdom for the " peace of God," according 
to which, no weapons might be used between the evening of Wednesday 
and Monday morning ; an arrangement which, in that iron time, was the 
only means of preserving a vestige of order. He also preserved him- 
self unspotted from the crime of simony, i. e., disposing of the property 
or dignities of the church for money or worldly considerations. 

§ 213. Ilenry III.'s son was the highly-gifted but misled Henry IV., 
who, from the age of five years, was under the tutelage of his judicious 
mother, till the ambitious Hanno, archbishop of Cologne, succeeded in 
getting the young emperor into his power. The severe method of educa- 
tion employed by this prelate disgusted Henry, Avho was only the more 
pleased with the magnificent Bishop Adelbert, of Bremen, who snatched 
him from the hands of Hanno, and made himself agreeable to the young 
prince by flattery, and the gratification of his sensual inclinations. The 
emperor established his residence at Goslar, for the purpose of chastising 
the Saxons, among whom, Henry's rival, Otho of Nordheim, had many 
adherents. He here established a riotous court ; oppressed and mal- 
treated both the nobles and people; and, in the insolence of youth, dis- 
turbed, with his companions, the security of the neighboring country. 
The Saxon nobility at length took up arms under the conduct of Otho ; 
the fortresses were taken, the strong citadel of Harzburg destroyed, and 
the emperor compelled to take flight. This proved the commencement 
of a destructive war, which was terminated to the disadvantage of the 
Saxons, by the superior talents of Ilenry, and his victory on 
the Unstruth. This finally induced them to call in the pope 
as umpire. 

§ 214. The chair of Rome was at that time occupied by Gregory VII., 
a prelate of resolute will and decided temper, who cherished the purpose 
of rendering the church independent of the secular authority, and of 
exalting the papacy above the power of the emperor, and that of every 
other temporal prince. With this object, he had induced his predecessors 
to withdraw the election of pope from the hands of the Roman people, 
and to transfer it to the newly-created college of cardinals. After his 
elevation, he turned his attention to the purifying of the church ; he 
accordingly issued a strict prohibition against all simony, deposed and 
banished the bishops who had obtained their offices by purchase, and for- 
bade lay investiture (appointment to church offices by a temporal prince); 
and, for the purpose of binding the clergy more closely to the church, he 



THE HOUSE OF FRANCONIA. 139 

passed a law wliicli enforced a rigid observance of celibacy by all per- 
sons of the priestly condition. The appeal to his arbitration by the 
Saxons came very opportunely to the daring priest after these arrange- 
ments ; it served to confirm the principle that the pope, as Christ's vice- 
regent, was superior to all temporal rulers, and that emperors, kings, and 
princes, were consequently his vassals. He summoned Henry IV. be- 
fore his judgment seat. Instead of obeying the summons, the emperor 
obtained a resolution from a council of the church assembled at Worms, 
which declared the pope to be deposed, and this resolution he forwarded 
to Gregory with a contemptuous letter. Upon this, Gregory excommu- 
nicated Henry and his adherents, and deposed him from the crown. This 
happened at a time when Henry's conduct towards the Saxons, and his 
matrimonial quarrel with his virtuous wife, from whom he attempted to 
get himself separated by the archbishop of Mayence, created universal 
dissatisfaction. He soon found himself forsaken by his people, and the 
princes who assembled at Tribur announced to him his deposition, unless 
he were released from the excommunication within a year. Upon this, 

Henry hastened across the Alps, in the midst of a severe 
A. D. 1077. . , , , . T , ,, 1 /-, 

winter, to the pope, who was residing at the castle Lanossa ; 

but it was not until after waiting three days barefoot, and in the dress of 
a penitent, in the court of the castle, that he was admitted to an audience. 
After this humiliation, the excommunication was withdrawn. 

§ 215. During Henry's absence, his enemies had raised Rudolf, duke 
of Swabia, to the imperial throne. A civil war broke out in consequence, 
in which Henry remained the victor. Rudolf, having lost a hand in the 
battle of the Elster, died shortly afterwards, upon which Henry under- 
took an expedition to revenge himself upon Gregory, who, 
deceived by false intelligence respecting the victory, had re- 
newed the excommunication. He left the finishing of the war in Ger- 
many to his son-in-law, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, whom he had created 
duke of Swabia, and then marched with his army over the Alps. A 
council of the church, assembled by him at Brixen, deposed 
Gregory and elected Clement III., from whom Henry imme- 
diately received the crown. It is true, that Gregory still maintained 
himself for some time in the castle of St. Angelo, under the protection 
of Robert Guiscard (§ 208), with whom he had entei'ed into an alliance; 
but the dreadful excesses of the Normans produced so much exasperation 
among the Romans, that the pope thought it most advisable 
'to take refuge in Salerno, where he died in the following 
year. But Henry's troubles were not yet at an end. Two rival em- 
perors arose in Germany, and in Italy the successor of Gregory 
created him a crowd of enemies, and renewed the sentence of excommu- 
nication. At length, his own misguided children rose against him. 
Conrad was disowned by him, and died in disgrace ; but in a short time 



140 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

after, Henry, who was nlready crowned, drew the sword against his 
father, took him prisoner, and when he escaped from confinement, 
continued the war against him so long, that Henry IV., bowed down 
by misery and misfortune, ended his days at Liege. But even now 
he was not at rest. For five years, his dead body remained unburied 
in an unconsecrated chapel at Spire, before it was allowed to be interred 
in the imperial sepulchre. 

§ 216. As long as Henry V. continued the disgraceful contest with his 
Henry V. A. t>. father, so long he remained the friend of the pope. But 
HOC- 1125. scarcely was he in exclusive possession of the imperial digni- 
ty, before he quarrelled with his ally on the subject of investiture. He 
seized upon the pope and cardinals, and succeeded, despite the thunders 
of excommunication by which he was assailed, in effecting a fair com- 
promise of the subject of dispute, by means of the concordat of Worms. 
It was arranged by this contract, that the bishops and abbots should be 
freely elected and installed in their offices by the pope, but that they 
should be endowed with their temporalities and privileges by the king 
with his sceptre. 

The severity with which Henry had humbled the insolent princes of 
the empire, prevented them from raising to the throne the nearest rela- 
tive of the house of Franconia, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, upon 
Lothairc the Henry's death without children. They elected Lothaire the 
Saxon, A. D. Saxon, the heir of Otho of Mordheim, but produced a fatal 
1125-1137. division by this step. For when the brothers of the Ho- 
henstaufen family refused to do homage to the new emperor, Lothaire 
united himself with Henry the Proud of Bavaria, of the house of Welf, 
by giving him his daughter in marriage, and increasing the vast posses- 
sions of this family by the dukedom of Saxony. The Hohenstaufens 
were unable to resist such superior power, and they wei'e compelled to 
acknowledge Lothaire emperor, and to accompany him in his Italian 
campaign. 



IV. THE ASCENDENCY OF THE CHURCH IN THE TIME OF THE 

CRUSADES. 

1. THE CRUSADES. 

§ 217. Ever since the fourth century, it had been a prevalent custom 
to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for the health of the soul and 
tlie expiation of a sinful life, and to pray at what was believed to be the 
site of the sepulchre of Christ, and where, in consequence, the Empress 



THE CRUSADES. 141 

Helena had erected a church. These pilgrimages became more numer- 
ous as the Christian faith acquired more influence over the minds of 
men. As long as the mercantile Arabians retained possession of the 
land, the pilgrims came and went without molestation ; but when Syria 
and Palestine were conquered by the Seljookian Turks, the native Christ- 
ians, as well as the pilgrims, were exposed to severe oppression. They 
were compelled to pay a heavy tax, and were frequently robbed, mal- 
treated, and killed. At this junctui-e, a pilgrim, Peter of Amiens, who 
was returning from Jerusalem, presented himself before Pope Urban II., 
described the sufferings of the Christians in the East, and received the 
charge of wandering through town and countiy, and preparing the minds 
of men for the great enterprise of recovering the Holy Land from the 
hands of the infidels. Wonderful was the agitation produced in all 
lands by the descriptions of the eloquent and meagre-visaged pilgrim. 
When the pope, in consequence, held an assembly at Cler- 
mont, in the south of France, at which several bishops and 
nobles, and a numberless crowd of people of all conditions were present, 
galled upon the West to arm itself against the East, and concluded his 
passionate address by an exhortation to every one, " To deny himself 
and take up his ci'oss, that he might win Christ," the shout, " It is the 
will of God," pealed from every throat, and thousands fell on their 
knees, and demanded to be at once admitted among the number of the 
sacred warriors. They attached a red cross to the right shoulder, from 
which the new brotherliood received the name of crusaders. Complete 
remission of sins, and an everlasting reward in heaven were promised to 
them. This was the commencement of the first crusade, 1096 — 1099. 

§ 218. A mighty enthusiasm took possession of all minds ; no sex, age, 
or condition would be left behind. Many were too impatient to wait for 
the preparations of the princes ; a disorderly and half-armed crowd, 
under the direction of Peter of Amiens, and a French 
knight, Walter the Penniless, marched through Gei'many 
towards Hungaiy, on their way to Constantinople. When they were 
denied the necessaries of life in Bulgaria, they stormed Belgrade, and 
filled the country with robbery and murder. Hereupon the inhabitants 
rose upon them, and slaughtered them by thousands. The remnant 
reached Constantinople with their leaders, but were nearly all destroyed 
in Asia Minor by the Seljooks. The disorderly crowd, which, after a 
bloody persecution of the Jews, marched out of the Rhenish towns, 
Strasburg, Worms, Mayence, &c., under the conduct of the priest, 
Gottschalk, and the count Enrico of Leiningen, fared no better. 

§ 219. A hundred thousand men had already perished, when the high- 
spirited Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lorraine, marched towards Con- 
stantinople by the same path, with his brothers and a vast host of well- 
appointed knights, whilst Hugh of Vermandois, the brother of the French 



142 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

king, and the Norman prince, Bohemond of Lower Italy, with his chival- 
rous nephew, Tancred, departed by sea to the same destination. After 
they had promised the Byzantine emperor, Alexander Comnenus, the 
restoration of all the Greek towns that had formerly belonged to the 
Eastern empire, they were transported into Asia. A review took place 
in a plain near Nicasa, and the army was found to consist of 100,000 
cavalry, and 300,000 foot, fit for battle. The most celebrated of the 
leaders, besides those already named, were llobert of Normandy, son of 
William the Conqueror (§ 207) ; Stephen of Blois, who numbered 
as many castles as there are days in the year ; the rich and powerful 
Count Raymond of Toulouse, and others. The siege and capture of 
Nica^a was the first important deed of arms achieved by the crusaders. 
From this point, their march proceeded southwards through the domi- 
nions of the sultan of Iconium. The Seljooks suffered a defeat in the 
battle of Doryl^um. But the Christian army was roon reduced to the 
greatest straits by the want of the necessaries of life, so that many re- 
turned home, and others, separating themselves from the main body, 
established independent governments among the pagans. In this way, 
Baldwin, Godfrey's brother, established himself in Edessa, on the Eu- 
phrates. At length, the host reached the beautiful territory 

A. D. 1097. n X . . -r^ I . r- ■. . l T 

of Antioch. But the siege of this strong and amply-pro- 
vided city presented so many difficulties to the unpractised knights, that 
that it was only after an investment of nine months that they obtained 
possession of it, by a sti-atagem of the crafty Bohemond, who contrived 
that a door should be treacherously left open to him. The punishment 
inflicted by the Christians on the conquered city was frightful. But they 
had scarcely held possession of it for three days before the Seljook sultan 
of Mosul made his appearance, and inclosed the place with an innume- 
rable army. The crusaders were in a short time so reduced by famine, 
that their destruction appeared inevitable. From this perilous position 
they were rescued by a holy lance, that was found in the church of St. Peter 
in Antioch, and the discovery of which produced such enthusiasm amongst 
them, that, sallying out of the city, they put to flight a very superior 
army of the besiegers, and opened for themselves the road to Jerusalem. 
The faith in the genuineness of the lance soon however disappeared, 
when the priest who had discovered it died from the consequences of the 
divine ordeal to which he was subjected. 

§ 220. The army now compelled the contending princes to a rapid 
march. When they arrived, about the time of Pentecost, at 

A D 1099. 

the heights above Ramla and Emmaus, whence Jerusalem 
first becomes visible, they fell upon their knees in an ecstasy of devotion, 
shed tears of joy, and glorified God with psalms of thanksgiving. But 
the conquest of this strong city was a difficult undertaking for an army 
of pilgrims, wearied with travel, and unprovided with the necessary 



THE CRUSADES. 143 

engines. The want of water, and the burning heat, proved more de- 
structive than the arrows of the enemv. But the newly-aroused enthu- 
siasm triumphed over all obstacles. Having endured a siege of thirty- 
i5thJuly,A.D. nine days, Jerusalem was at length taken by the crusaders 
1099. after a two days' storm, accompanied b}'' the shouts, " It is 

the will of God," " God helps us." The fate of the vanquished was fright- 
ful. The steps of the mosques were washed by the blood of 10,000 
slaughtered Saracens ; the Jews were burnt in their synagogue ; neither 
age nor sex was spared, the streets were filled with corpses, blood, and 
mutilated limbs. It was only after the thirst for revenge and plunder 
had been slaked, that Christian humility again resumed its empire over 
the mind, and the same men who, a short time before, had been raging 
like ravenous beasts, might now be seen, with bare feet and uncovered 
heads, marching with songs of praise to the Church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, to thank God with fervent devotion for the success vouchsafed to 
their enterprise. 

§ 221. The next step was to elect a king of Jerusalem. The choice 
fell upon the pious and valiant Godfrey of Bouillon, who refused, how- 
ever, to wear a kingly diadem on the spot where the Saviour of the world 
had bled beneath a crown of thorns. He rejected the outward symbols 
of powei", and called himself the Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. The 
new kingdom of Jerusalem was arranged according to the principles of 
the western feudal system (§ 241). Godfrey, moreover, won the glorious 
Awgust, victory at Ascalon, over the army of the Egyptian sultan, 

A. D. 1099. but died during the following year, from the effects of the 
climate and his extreme exertions. His brother, Baldwin, succeeded to 
the government, and assumed the title of king. 

§ 222. The kingdom of Jerusalem had severe encounters to sustain 
with the infidels. When reinforcements no longer arrived from the 
West, the situation of the Christians became extremely precarious, espe- 
cially after the powerful sultan of Mosul had taken and destroyed P^dessa, 
\ D 1147 and threatened their borders from the East. At this junc- 
ture, St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, in Burgundy, aroused 
■*■■ "■ ■ afresh the slumbering zeal for religion, and was the origi- 
nator of the SECOND cnusADE. The authority of this pious man was 
so great, that Louis VII. of France yielded obedience to his exhortations, 
and even Conrad III. was unable to resist the fiery eloquence with which 
he addressed him in the cathedral of Spire. Conrad assumed the cross, 
and marched with a stately army through Constantinople into Asia 
Minor. But here he was decoyed by the artifice of the Greek generals 
into a waterless desert, where the crusaders were suddenly attacked by 
innumerable squadrons of Turkish cavalry, who gave them so signal an 
overthrow, that scarcely a tenth part escaped with Conrad into Constan- 
tinople. The French army that marched along the coast fared no better. 



144 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

The greater number of the pilgrhns jierished either by the swoi'd of the 
enemy, or by hunger and fatigue. The shattered forces of the two kings 
at length reached Jerusalem, but were unable to perform any action of 
importance, so that the position of the Christian kingdom became from 
day to day more difficult, especially as, shortly after their retreat, the 
magnanimous and valiant Curd, Saladin, made himself master of Egypt, 
and united in a short time all the lands between Cairo and Aleppo under 
his sceptre. The kingdom of Jerusalem was soon in distress. Saladin 
granted a truce ; but when this was violated by a Christian knight, who 
had audaciously interrupted the passage of Saladin's mother, robbed her 
of her treasures, and slaughtered her attendants, the sultan took the field 
with his army. The battle of Tiberias M'as decided ajrainst 

A D 1187 

the Christians. King Guy of Lusignan and many of his 
nobles were taken prisoners ; Joppa, Sidon, Acre, and many other towns 
fell into the hands of the conqueror, and at length, Jerusalem was also 
taken. The crosses were torn down, and the furniture of the churches 
destroyed, but the inhabitants were treated with forbearance. Saladin, 
far superior in virtue to his Christian adversaries, did not stain his 
triumph with cruelty. 

§ 223. The news of the taking of Jerusalem occasioned the utmost 
^,^„ alarm throughout the whole West, and gave rise to the 

A. D. 1189. • ° 5 to 

THIRD CRUSADE. From the southernmost point of Italy 
to the rude mountains of Scandinavia, armed bands streamed 
towards the Holy Land. Those who remained behind paid a tax (Sala- 
din's tenth). The three most powerful monarchs of the West, Frederick 
Barbarossa of Germany, Philip Augustus II. of France, and Richai'd 
Cceur de Lion (Lion-heart) of England, assumed the cross. The Em- 
peror Frederick, with a well-appointed army, took the way by land to 
Asia Minor, defeated the sultan of Iconium in a furious battle near the 
walls of his chief city, and displayed prudence, courage, and resolution in 
the whole undertaking. But when the old hei'o attempted, with the 
boldness of youth, to cross the rapid mountain stream of the Saleph, into 
the south of Asia Minor, he was carried away by the torrent. His dead 
body was dragged on shore near Seleucia. Some of the knights returned 
home, and others followed the second son of the emperor, Frederick of 
Swabia, to Palestine, where they took part in the siege of Acre. The 
kings of France and England, who had taken the sea voyage by Sicily, 
met shortly after, before this town. Their united efforts were crowned by 
the fall of Acre, where Richard distinguished himself as much by his seve- 
rity, pride, and cruelty, as by his valor and heroism. The German ban- 
ner, that duke Leopold of Austria had first planted on the battlements, 
was torn down and trampled under foot by the commands of Richard ; 
and when the stipulated ransom for the captive Saracens was not paid 
at the appointed moment, he ordered 3500 of these unfortunates to be 



THE CRUSADES. 145 

put to the sword. Richard's name was the terror of the East. But de- 
spite all his strength and bravery, he was unable to take Jerusalem. 
Quarrels between Richard and Philip Augustus, (who returned home 
after the capture of Acre), and dissensions among the crusaders, checked 
the enterprise. After the conclusion of a treaty, by which the sea-coast 
from Tyre to Joppa, and undisturbed access to the holy places, were 
assured to the Christians, Richard also turned homewards. Having 
been cast by a storm on the coast of Italy, he attempted to pursue 
his journey through Germany, but was seized near Vienna, and given 
up to the avaricious emperor Henry VI., who shut him up in the 
castle of Trifels, and only released him on the payment of a heavy 

ransom. 

A. D. 1203. § 224. The fourth crusade had a termination alto- 

A. D. 1204. gether peculiar. The knights of France and Italy assembled 
together at Venice, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, under 
Baldwin of Flanders, for the purpose of getting themselves conveyed to 
the Holy Land. Whilst here, the Byzantine prince, Alexius, whose 
father, Isaac Angelus, had been deprived of the throne, rendered bhnd, 
and shut up in prison by his own brother, presented himself before them, 
and implored their assistance against the usurper. Alexius prevailed 
upon the crusaders, by the promise of vast rewards. They sailed for 
Constantinople under the command of the blind doge, Dandolo of Venice, 
who was then in his ninetieth year, took the city, and placed Alexius and 
his father on the throne. But when they insolently demanded the fulfil- 
ment of the promises made to them, the populace excited an insurrection, 
durino- which Alexius was killed, and his father died of fright, whilst the 
leader of the tumult was raised to the government. Upon this, the 
Franks stormed Constantinople, plundered the churches, palaces, and 
dwelling-houses, destroyed the noblest works of art and antiquity, and 
filled the whole city with tarror and outrage. They flung the emperor from 
a pillar, and then divided the Byzantine kingdom. The newly-established 
Jjatin empire, with its chief city, Constantinople, fell to the share of the 
heroic Baldwin ; the Venetians appropriated the lands on the coast and 
several islands of the iEgean Sea, and gained possession of the whole 
trade of the East ; the count of Montferrat received Macedonia and 
Greece, under the title of the kingdom of Thessalonica ; Villehardouin, 
the describer of this transaction, became duke of Achaia ; Athens and 
other Greek towns were shared among the Frank nobles. As before, in 
Jerusalem, so here, the feudal monarchy was established under the 
western forms, by which means the greater part of the old population 
was reduced to the condition of serfdom. But the new empire had no 
solid foundation nor any long continuance. It preserved itself with diffi- 
culty for half a century, by aid from the West, against its 
numerous enemies ; the greater part of it then returned to 
13 



146 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Michael Palasologus, a descendant of the ancient imperial family, who 
had established an independent government in Nicjea. 

§ 225. This crusade, however, was without results as far as Jerusalem 
was concerned ; and as the Latin kingdom also drew away the strength 
from the Holy Land, the latter soon fell into distress. The separate 
bands, that, without leaders and without system, from time to time 
ventured upon this hazardous undertaking, brought as little assistance 
to the closely pressed kingdom, as did the fanatical enthusiasm that 
impelled crowds of children to assume the cross. Nearly 

A. D. 1213. 

20,000 children left their paternal homes for the purpose of 
reaching the holy sepulchre, but either perished by hunger and ex- 
haustion, or were sold for slaves by rapacious merchants and pirates. 
The expedition to Egypt, undertaken by Andrew of Hungary and other 
princes, was also unproductive of any permanent result. With such 
examples before him, the excommunicated emperor, Frederick IL, under- 
took the FIFTH CRUSADE, at a time when the sultan of E";ypt 

A D. 1228. 

was engaged in a war with the governor of Damascus, re- 
specting the possession of Syria and Palestine. But the pope was indig- 
nant with the excommunicated man, and forbade all Christian warriors 
to support his undertaking ; and when Frederick nevertheless succeeded, 
by dexterously availing himself of circumstances, in bringing the sultan 

to a treat}^, by which Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, 

A. T>. 1229. J ^ J 7 ' > 

together with their territories and the whole of the sea-coast 
between Joppa and Sidon, were ceded to the Christians, the pope fulmi- 
nated an excommunication against the city and the holy sepulchre, so 
that Frederick II. was obliged to place the crown of Jerusalem on his 
own head, without either a mass or the consecration of the Church. 
Hated and betrayed by the Christian knights and priests in Jerusalem, 
Frederick, with shattered health, retired from the Holy Land. Fourteen 
years afterwards, the Carismians, a savage Eastern race, poured them- 
selves into Palestine, carrying death and destruction in their train. They 
took Jerusalem, destroyed the holy sepulchre, and tore the bones of the 
kings from their graves. The flower of the Christian chivalry fell at 

Gaza beneath their blows. Acre and a few other towns on 

A. D. 1244. 

the coast were all that remained to the Christians. 
§ 226. Upon receipt of this intelligence, Louis IX. (the Saint), of 
France, with many of his nobles, took the cross and sailed by Cyprus to 
Egypt. The strong frontier town of Damietta fell into the hands of the 
Franks, but when they proceeded up the Nile to attack Cairo, the army 
was inclosed between the canals and an arm of the river, whilst the fleet 
was destroyed by the Greek fire. After the king's brother and the bra- 
vest knights had fallen, Louis and the remainder of the army were taken 
prisoners, and he was compelled to ransom himself and a portion of his 
followers by the payment of a large sum of money and the surrender of 



THE CRUSADES. 147 

the conquered towns. In the mean while, the government of Egypt had 
fallen into the hands of the warlike Mamelukes, the former slaves of the 
Curds. Sixteen years after his return, Louis again undertook 
another crusade, which, however, he first directed against 
the pii-atical Saracens at Tunis in northei-n Africa, partly to compel 
them to pay tribute, and partly with a hope of introducing Christianity 
amongst them. He had already laid siege to their principal city, when 
the unusual heat produced an infectious disease, which hurried the king 
himself and many of his warriors into the grave. The French leaders 
concluded a hasty treaty with the Saracens, and returned home. The 
feeble remains of the kingdom of Jerusalem were more and more threat- 
ened by the warlike Mamelukes. "When Antioch fell into their hands, 
and Acre or Ptolemais was stormed after an hei'oic defence, the Frank 
Christians that were still alive voluntarilv retired from Syria, 

A. D. 1291. •/ ' 

that for the last two hundred years had been drenched by 
the blood of so many millions. 

§ 227. The consequences of the Crusades were of vast importance to 
the progress of the European races. — 1. Cultivation of mind was for- 
warded by them, inasmuch as an acquaintance with foreign lands and 
nations enlarged the hitherto contracted sphere of human knowledge, gave 
men an insight into the sciences and arts of other people, and enlightened 
their minds with regard to the world and human relations. — 2. They 
ennobled the knightly class, by furnishing a more elevated aim to their 
efforts, and gave occasion for the establishment of fresh orders, who pre- 
sented a model of chivalry, and were supposed to combine all the knightly 
virtues. Of these orders, those which most distinguished themselves 
were the knights of St. John (Hospitallers), the Templars, and the Teu- 
tonic knights. They combined the spirit of the knight and the monk ; for 
in addition to the three conventual vows of chastity, poverty, and obedi- 
ence, they joined a fourth,^ — war to the infidels and protection to pilgrims. 

a.) The order of St. John was divided into three classes: serving 
brothers, who were devoted to the care of sick pilgrims ; priests, who 
ministered to the affairs of religion ; and knights, who fought with the 
infidels and escorted pilgrims. After the loss of the Holy Land, they 
obtained the island of Rhodes, and when they were compelled, after a 
most desperate resistance, to relinquish this to the Ottomans, 

A. D. 1522. , . , \ ,. ^ r n \ ■■ , , 

the island of Malta was presented to them by the emperor 
Charles V. — h.) The Templars acquired vast wealth "by donations and 
legacies. After the loss of their possessions in Palestine, the greater 
number of their members returned to France, where they gave them- 
selves up to infidelity and a life of voluptuousness, which finally occa- 
sioned the dissolution of their order (§ 256). The order of Teutonic 
knights is less renowned for its deeds in Palestine than for its services in 
the civilization of the countries on the shores of the Baltic. Summoned 



148 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

to defend the germs of Christianity against the heathen Prussians on the 
banks of the Vistula, the Order, after many bloody encounters, succeeded 
in converting the people between the Vistula and the Niemen to Christ- 
ianity, and introducing the German manners, language, and cultivation. 
The cities of Culm, Thorn, Elbing, Konigsburg, and others, arose under 
the influence of the active traders of Bremen and Lubeck. Bishoprics 
and churches v/ere founded ; the woods were cleared and converted into 
arable land ; German industry and German civilization produced a com- 
plete transformation ; but the ancient freedom of the people was de- 
stroyed. The knights of the Order (who, since 1309, had had their 
residence in Marienburg,) conducted the government, and the peasantry 
sank into the condition of serfs. 

About the time of the first crusade, the Mohammedan prophet, Has- 
san, formed the fanatical sect of the Assassins, who dwelt in the ancient 
Parthia and the mountainous heights of Syria, and were remarkable for 
the entire renunciation of their own wills. They obeyed the commands 
of their chief, " the old man of the mountain," with the blindest devotion, 
executed with subtelty and courage every murderous deed that was 
intrusted to them, made a jest of the torture when seized, and were the 
terror of both Turks and Christians. 

§ 228. — 3. The Crusades gave rise to a free peasantry, inasmuch as, 
by means of them, many serfs attained their liberty, and raised and ex- 
tended the power and importance of the burgher class and of the towns ; 
whilst a nearer acquaintance with foreign lands and foreign productions 
gave an impulse to trade, developed commerce, and produced prosperity. 
4. They increased the power and the authority of the clergy, multiplied 
the riches of the church, (the clergy and the monasteries got possession 
of vast estates during the Crusades, either by legacies and donations, or 
by purchase), and exalted the zeal for religion into a gloomy fanaticism. 
The latter quality was frightfully displayed in the persecution of the 
-Waldenses and Albigenses, a religious sect who were desirous of restor- 
ing the apostolical simplicity of the church and clergy. Provence and 
Languedoc in the south of France, where, under a beautiful and serene 
sky, a prosperous race of burghers had developed their free institutions, 
where the cheerful Provencal poetry of the Troubadours had indulged 
its petulant and satii-ical humor at the expense of priests and bishops, 
was the residence of these Albigenses (so called from the city Alby). 
Against these men and their protector, Eaimond VI. of Tou- 
louse, Innocent III. ordered the cross to be preached by the 
Cistercian monks. Hereupon, bands of savage warriors, with some 
fanatical monks bearing the cross before them, marched into the blooming 
land, destroyed the rich cities, towns, and villages, slaughtered the inno- 
cent with the guilty, lighted up the flames of death, and filled the whole 
country with murder, plunder, and desolation. Eaimond for a long time 



THE HOHENSTAUFENS. 149 

resisted his enemies ; but when Louis VIIL, excited by an ignoble 
cupidity for extending his possessions, undertook the war against the 
heretics, the count submitted, and concluded a peace by which he sur- 
rendered the greater part of his territories to France. But a desolating 
war of twenty years had destroyed the beautiful culture of the south 
of France, turned the land into a wilderness, and silenced forever the 
cheerful song of the Troubadour. A few years afterwards, the gallant 
peasant republic of the Stedingers was visited in a similar manner by 
a war of extermination, at the instance of the bishops of Bremen and 
Ratzburg. 

2. THE HOHENSTAUFENS (a. D. 1138-1154). 

§ 229. Upon the death of the emperor Lothaire (§ 216), on his return 
from Italy, his son-in-law, Henry the Proud, believed himself to possess 
the nearest claims to the throne. But the great power of the house of 
Welf, who held Bavaria and Saxony, and whose possessions extended 
from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, together Avith the arrogance of the 
haughty duke, induced many of the princes, assembled at the imperial 
diet at Coblentz, to elect Conrad of Hohenstaufen. But Henry hesitated 
to recognize the election, and refused the required homage. Ui)on this, 
Conrad m Conrad pronounced the ban of the empire against him, 
A. D. and declared the forfeiture of both his dukedoms. This 

~ occasioned a renewal of hostilities between the houses of 

Hohenstaufen and Welf, and a desolating civil war. It was at the siege 
of Weinsberg, an hereditary possession of the "VVelfs, that the war cries, 
" Hurrah for Welf ! " " Hurrah for Waibling ! " * which gave rise to the 
party names, Welfs and Waiblings (Italice, Guelfs and Ghibellines), were 
first heard. The citadel was obliged to surrender to the emperor, but the 
garrison was preserved by the wit and fidelity of the women. The war 
continued till the death of HeniT the Proud. It was onlv 

A. D. 1142* 

when his son, Henry the Lion, received back his paternal 
inheritance and the two dukedoms of Bavaria and Saxony, that a com- 
plete reconciliation was, for a time, effected. 

Conrad was a brave and good man ; but his war against the Welfs, and 
the second crusade in which he engaged, prevented his being of any great 
service to Germany. A short time before his death, he exerted his influ- 
ence with the princes to procure the election of his high-spirited and 
energetic nephew, Frederick Barbarossa (Red-beard), who was esteemed 
the flower of chivalry, and with whose qualities Conrad had made 
acquaintance during the crusade. This great emperor, Frederick I., gave 

* Waibling was the name of one of the hereditary possessions of the Hohenstaufens. 
Guelphs and Ghibellines were the names of the two great political parties that divided 
Italy and Germany during the Middle Ages, the former adhering to the Pope, the latter to 
the Emperor. Am. Eel. 

13* 



150 THE niSTORY OF TUE MIDDLE AGE. 

peace and order to the empire within, and respect and security with- 
Fredcrick out. The genius for government displayed by this power- 
^ p' '' fui man, avIio combined severity with justice, awakened 
1152-1190. everywhere respect and obedience. 

§ 230. Frederick found the hardest conflict in Italy, to which country 
he made six expeditions. The Lombard towns, and the haughty Milan 
in particular, entertained the project of erecting their territories into 
small republics. Inspired by patriotism and a love of freedom, they 
formed an effective burgher militia, and attempted to rid themselves of 
the imperial authority. This refractory spirit displayed itself even during 
Frederick's first campaign, when, in accordance with a long-established 
custom, he held a review of his troops in the plains near Piacenza, and 
required the princes and cities of Upper Italy to do him homage. He 
could not, indeed, at this time, coerce the powerful Milan, but he sought 
to terrify her by the destruction of some smaller towns, before he had 
himself invested with the Lombard crown in Pavia, and with the im[)erial 
crown in Rome. He only obtained the latter by giving xi-p Arnold of 
Brescia. This remarkable man wished to bring back the church to its 
apostolic simplicity. In furtherance of this project, he denounced the 
worldly possessions and the arrogance of the clergy, and affirmed that the 
temporal authority of the head of the Church was an infringement on the 
Holy Scriptures. Inflamed by these discourses, the Romans renounced 
their obedience to the pope, and set up a republic in imitation of the 
ancient government. But when the bold preacher of this reformation 
was delivered up to the pope and burnt before the gates of the city, the 
courage of the Romans was subdued. They consented to abolish the new 
institutions, and again submitted to the power of the pope. 

§ 231. After Frederick's departure, the Milanese persisted in their de- 
fiance, and destroyed several cities that adhered to the emperor (for 
example, Lodi). Upon this, Frederick undertook a second 
expedition, had his sovereign rights (regalia) determined by 
jurists according to the code of Justinian (§ 186), and when Milan 
refused to submit to the decision, uttered the ban against the refractory 
city. A fierce war was at length decided in favor of the emperor. 
Milan was obliged to surrender, after a siege of three years and a half. 
After the carriage (carroccio) that supported the chief banner of the 
city had been bi'oken to pieces, and the citizens had humbled themselves 
before the conqueror, the walls and houses were levelled with the earth, 
and the inhabitants were compelled to settle themselves in four widely- 
separated points of their territory. Terrified at this result, the remainder 
of the Lombard towns submitted themselves, and received the imperial 
legate (podesta) within their walls. A short time after, Frederick 
engaged in a violent quarrel with the obstinate pope, Alexander III. 
The angry priest fulminated an excommunication against the empei'or, 



THE HOHEXSTAUFENS. 151 

and united himself with the Lombard cities, which were exai?perated 
with the tyranny of the imperial legate. Under the guidance of the pope, 
a confederation of Lombard cities was rapidly formed, which was joined 
by Milan, which had again recovered itself, and by almost all the city 
communities of Upper Italy. The confederation built the strong city of 
Alexandria, which was named after the pope, in defiance of the emperor, 
and defended itself with courage and success against all the attacks of 
Frederick ; so that the latter, having lost many of his soldiers by the 
summer fever, and being busied with the affairs of Germany, was obliged 
to leave Italy for a long time undisturbed. 

§ 232. At length, Frederick again crossed the Alps with a vast ai-my, 
but was detained so long by the siege of Alexandria, that he feared to 
lose all the fruits of his campaign, and resolved, against the advice of 
his friends, upon hazarding a battle. But Henry the Lion deserted the 
emperor in the hour of danger ; he refused his assistance, though Frede- 
rick implored it at his feet at the lake of Como ; and thus brought about 
the defeat of the Germans at the battle of Legnano, where the Milanese, 
united to"[ether for the defence of the car which bore the 
ensign (the legion of death), performed prodigies of valor. 
The emperor himself was missing for some days. But so great was the 
respect for Frederick's heroism, that the pope and Lombard confedera- 
tion, willingly accepted his proffer of peace. At a meeting in Venice, a 
truce of six years, which proved the foundation of the peace of Con- 
stance, was arranged between the belligerent parties. Alexander 
was acknowledged as the lawful head of the church, Frederick was 
released from the anathema, and the confederate towns were required to 
do homage, and admit the emperor's rights as sovereign. Imperial 
legates were to fill the chief offices of justice, and the imperial troops 
were to be supported by the towns during their marches through them. 
Before Frederick quitted Italy, he married his eldest son, Henry, to 
Constantia, the heiress of the Norman kingdom in Naples and Sicily. 

§ 233. Henry the Lion was much alarmed when the news of Frede- 
rick's reconciliation with the pope became known in Germany. Pie had 
extended his rule over the Slavonic tribes in Pomerania and Mecklen- 
burg ; had made war upon the Frislanders on the Baltic, and the peasant 
republic of the Ditmarsens, in Holstein ; and had got possession of a 
large kingdom. He had established mines in the Harz mountains ; he 
had founded cities and bishopricks (Lubeck, Munich, Ratzburg), and 
attracted settlers from the Netherlands. But his ambition and acts of 
violence against princes and clergy were not less known tlian his great 
feats in war, so that the brazen lion that he erected before the citadel of 
his chief city, Brunswick, might be regarded as an emblem of his 
rapacity, as well as of his strength. The complaints, accordingly, that 
'arose on all sides against Henry, upon the emperor's return, gave the 



152 THE HISTORY OP THE MIDDLE AGE. 

latter tlie opportunity he so much -wished for, of summoning him before 
the supreme court of the empire, and upon his neglect of the repeated 
summons, of pronouncing against him the ban of the em- 
pire, and depriving him of his two dukedoms, Bavaria and 
Saxony. The former devolved to the Wittelsbachs, who were devoted 
to the Hohenstaufens, and who afterwards received the palatinate of the 
Rhine ; and Saxony was shared between Bernhard of Anhalt, son of 
Albert the Bear, and the neighboring bishops and princes. But the 
Lion could only be subdued after a destructive war. For two years he 
withstood all his enemies. It was not until Frederick himself took the 
field against him, that he humbled himself before his great adversary, 
prostrated himself at his feet at Erfurt, and retired into three years' 
banishment in England. He nevertheless retained for himself and 
family his hereditary possessions of Brunswick and Luneburg. After 
Frederick had subdued all his enemies, he undertook the third crusade, 
that he might finish his heroic course in the same manner that he had 
commenced it. From this expedition he never returned ; he found 
his death in the distant East. But he lives still in the legends of 
his people, in which the restoration of the ancient strength and greatness 
of the German empire is connected with his return. 
Henry "VT ^ ^'^^' Frederick's son, Henry VI., was an avaricious and 

A. D. 1190- cruel prince, who resided more in Italy than in Germany. 
1197. After the death of the last Norman king, he wished to take 

possession of Naples and Sicily, the inheritance of his wife, Constantia. 
But the nobility, who were afraid of Henry's ambition and avarice, op- 
posed this project, and attempted to place one of the native nobles, the 
brave Tancred, on the throne. It was not until Henry had equipped 
fresh armaments with the ransom of the English king (§ 223), that he 
Bucceeded, with the assistance of the crusaders of Northern Germany 
and Thuringia, whom he enticed by a promise of a free passage to Lower 
Italy, in subduing his enemies, and in getting possession of Naples and 
Palermo. The revenge of the angry ruler was frightful. The prisons 
were filled with nobles and bishops, some of whom were deprived of 
tlieir eyes and impaled, while others were burnt, or buried alive in the 
earth. The plunder was conveyed by heavily-laden pack-horses to the 
Hohenstaufen castles. Henry died suddenly a few years afterwards, at 
the age of thirty-two, leaving behind him a son of two years of age, who 
was intrusted to the guardianship of the highly-accomplished pope, Inno- 
cent III. The adherents of the Hohenstaufens elected Philip of Swabia, 
brother of Henry VI., to be emperor, whilst the Welf faction proclaimed 
Otho IV., second son of Henry the Lion : the former was acknowledged 
in the south, the latter in the north. The consequence of this division 
was a ten years' war, during whicli the greatest lawlessness and violence 
prevailed, and such devastations wei'e committed, that sixteen cathedrals 



THE HOHENSTAUFENS. 153 

and 350 parishes with churches were burnt to the ground. Even after 

Philip had been murdered at Bamberg, from motives of private revenge, 

by the hasty palgrave, Otho of Wittelsbach, peace did not 

return for any length of time. For now a quarrel broke 

out between the emperor Otho IV. and pope Innocent III. 

§ 235. Innocent III., a politic prince, endowed with unusual talents 
for government, gave the papacy its highest power by establishing the 
principle, that the church Avas superior to the state, and its spiritual head 
superior to any temporal ruler ; so that all the princes of the world were 
bound to consider the pope as their liege lord and arbiter. He at the 
same time laid the foundation of an ecclesiastical state, by getting all 
previous donations confirmed by Otho, and inducing him to renounce all 
the imperial feudal rights over Rome and the central provinces of Italy. 
But when the emperor at length attempted to set some limits 

A D 1210 1 o I 

to the ambition of the pontiff, the latter excommunicated 
him, and sent the young Frederick into Germany, to stir up afresh the 
war between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. The Ghibelhne party 
gladly united themselves to the handsome and promising youth, so that 

Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen was universally acknowledged 

A D flS 

emperoi', even before Otho IV.'s death. Otho IV. died at 
Brunswick, in the year 1218. But a powerful opponent of the head of 
Frederick 11 ^^^^ church arose in the freethinking Frederick II., who had 
A. D. 1218- been educated in the wisdom of the Arabians, and who en- 
1250. tertained a favorable feeling towards the professors of Islam, 

and the Oriental mode of life ; so that his reign presents a continual 
contest between the imperial power and the papacy. Frederick's posi- 
tion, as king of Upper and Lower Italy, threatened no less danger to the 
temporal power of the pope, than his sceptical turn of mind to the au- 
thority of the church. It was for this reason, that Innocent and his suc- 
cessors labored to separate the government of Naples and Sicily from 
the imperial office. 

§ 236. As Frederick for a long time refused to undertake the promised 
crusade (§ 225), he was first excommunicated by Gregory IX., and when 
he proceeded to the Holy Land in the following year, without being 
released from the curse, the pope became more angry than ever, and 
not only paralyzed all the emperor's undertakings in Palestine, but com- 
manded his territories in Lower Italy to be attacked by soldiers, who 
were distinguished by the badge of the keys of St. Peter. This hasten- 
ed Frederick's return. He repulsed the papist troops, and approached 
the frontiers of the ecclesiastical territories, upon which Gregory con- 
sented to a peace, and the removal of the excommunication. After this, 
Frederick devoted his whole attention to the internal vrell-being of his 
kingdom. He restrained the increasing feitds and depredations of the 
knights in Germany ; he gave the inhabitants of Lower Italy a new code 



154 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

of laws ; ne encouraged trade, industry, and poetry. But when he at- 
tempted to compel the inhabitants of the Lombard towns to fulfil the 
Conditions of the peace of Constance (§ 232), and to discharge the rega- 
lian rights that pertained to him as emperor, a furious war broke out. 
Frederick, in conjunction with the Ghibellines, under the inhuman tyi-ant 
Ezzelino, in Verona, and supported by his trusty Saracens, whom he had 
settled in Lower Italy, overcame the united army of the Lombards, and 
reduced most of the towns to submission. But when he pursued his 
conquest with severity, threatened the Milanese with a fate similar to 
that which they had experienced from Frederick Barbarossa (§ 231), 
and presented his natural son, the brave and handsome Enzio, with the 
kingdom of Sardinia, the aged prince of the church again renewed his 
excommunication, joined the Lombards, and attempted to raise up ene- 
mies on every side against the emperor, whom he accused of infidelity 
and contempt for religion. Frederick retorted these accusations in some 
violent written rejilies, and repaid invective wdth invective ; but the 
church carried off the victory. 

§ 237. When Gregory IX., at the age of nearly a hundred 
years, at length sunk into the grave, Frederick's position 
seemed to become more favorable. But the pope's successor, the resolute 
Innocent IV., trod the same path. For the purpose of being free from 
restraint, he left Italy, and called a solemn council of the church, at 
Lyons. Without listening to Frederick's defence, Innocent here renewed 
the sentence of excommunication against the emperor in the severest 
form. He denounced him as a blasphemer of God, a secret Mohamme- 
dan, and an enemy of the church ; declared him to have forfeited his 
kingdom, released all his subjects from their oath of allegiance, and 
threatened his adherents with the ban of the church. Upon this, the 
war broke out afresh in every country. The popish party succeeded in 
Germany in carrying the election of a rival emperor, Henry 
Ilaspe, of TImringia ; and when, after the unfortunate engage- 
ment at Ulm, against Frederick's son Conrad, Henry died powerless and 
forsaken in the castle of Wartburg, the young count, William of Hol- 
land, allowed himself to be persuaded to assume the title of emjjeror. But 
the imperial towns and most of the secular princes sided with Conrad. 
. § 238. In the mean time, the war between Guelfs and Ghibellines 
raged furiously in Italy. The fiery temperament of the revengeful 
southerns occasioned deeds of unheard-of atrocity ; family was arrayed 
against family, city against city ; neither age nor condition refrained from 
the combat. Ezzelino, the leader of the Ghibelline nobility, perpetrated 
the most monstrous cruelties in his attacks upon the Guelf cities, till at 
length he met with the punishment he deserved in the prison of Milan. 

Frederick for a long time maintained his lofty attitude ; the number 
of his foes only incx'eased his courage. But when his son, Enzio, fell 



THE HOHENSTAUFENS. 155 

into the Lands of the Bolognese, who kept the fair-haired king for twenty 
years in confinement ; when his chancellor, Peter of Vinea, suffered him- 
self to be gained by the opposite party, and then, either from fear or re- 
morse, deprived himself of life in prison, — his heart at length broke. 
He died in his jSfty-sixth year, in the arras of his best beloved son, Man- 
fred, in Lower Italy. Frederick II. united great cultivation of mind and 
aptitude for science and poetry, with courage, heroism, and beauty of 
person. Surrounded by pomp, luxury, and pleasures of all descriptions, 
he had every pretension to happiness, had not his sceptical spirit resisted 
the church, and had he only learnt to moderate his desires and bridle his 
passions. 

§ 239. Upon the news of Frederick's death. Innocent IV. returned in 
triumph to Rome. He declared Naples and Sicily to be lapsed fiefs of 
the chair of St. Peter, and excommunicated Conrad IV. and Manfred, 
who wished to take possession of their paternal inheritance. Conrad 
soon sank into an early grave ; but his chivalrous half-brother, Manfred, 
defended Lower Italy with his German and Saracen troops with such 
courage and success, that the greater part of the towns tendered their 
allegiance, and the Guelfic troops were obliged to retreat into the eccle- 
siastical states. Distress at this hastened the death of Innocent IV. His 
successor, Urban IV., pursued however the same path. Determined to 
deprive the Hohenstaufens of Naples and Sicily at any price, he offered 
this beautiful kingdom, as a papal fief, to the energetic but despotic 
Charles of Anjou, brother of the French king, Louis IX., under condition 
that he should conquer it by Guelfic assistance and with French troops, 
and should pay a yearly tribute to the Roman court. Manfred valiantly 
resisted his insolent rival. But when the battle of Bene- 

A. D. 1260. 

ventum was decided against him by Italian treachery, he 
plunged into the thickest of the enemy, and died the death of a hero. A 
simple grave, to which every soldier contributed a stone, inclosed his 
remains. 

§ 240. After the battle of Beneventum, the power of the Ghibellines 
was broken ; Naples and Sicily fell into the hands of the stern victor, 
who made the unfortunate land feel all the miseries of conquest. The 
adherents of the Hohenstaufens were punished with death, imprisonment, 
and banishment ; their possessions were divided among the French and 
Guelfic soldiers. Upon this, the oppressed people called Conrad IV.'s 
youngest son, Conradine, from Germany into Italy. Conradine, in Avhose 
bosom dwelt the lofty spirit and heroic courage of his ancestors, left his 
home for the purpose of again conquering the inheritance of the Hohen- 
staufens, with the assistance of his youthful friend, Frederick of Baden, 
and a few faithful adherents. Received with rejoicing by the Ghibellines, 
he marched victoriously through Upper and Middle Italy, put the pope 
to flight, and crossed the frontiers of Naples. The battle at Scurcola 



156 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

terminated in his favor ; but his over-hasty advance threw the victory 
into the hands of the enemy, avIio were watching in ambuscade. His 
troops were either killed or dispersed ; he himself, betrayed into the 
hands of his rival, Charles of Anjou, was beheaded at Naples, along with 
his bosom friend, Frederick. Thus sank the last scion of a jrlo- 

A. D. 12GS. . ^' ,,,f.,.i . , 

nous race of heroes, robbed oi his honor, into an early grave. 
The still remaining members of the house of Hohenstaufen also expe- 
rienced a cruel fate. King Enzio died in prison in Bologna (§ 23G). 
The ruthless Charles allowed the sons of Manfred to pine in prison till 
they died ; and Margaret, the daughter of Frederick II., was ill-treated 
and threatened with death by her husband, Albert of Thuringia, called 
the Uncourteous, so that she fled by night from the castle of Wartburg. 
In her agony at her separation from her two sons, she bit one of them ia 
the cheek whilst embracing him, so that he retained the mai'k and the 
surname of " the Bitten." 

After Conradine's death, Charles proceeded with cruelty and severity 
against all his adherents. Upon this, John of Procida, a Ghibelline, who 
had been deprived of his property, swore vengeance against the tyrant. 
By his influence, all the French were killed by the Sicilians, on the so- 
called Sicilian vespers, and the island was given up to Man- 
A. D. 1282. „ . . 

fred's valiant son-in-law, Peter of Aragon, by whose assist- 
ance, the inhabitants successfully repelled all the attacks of Charles, and 
established an independent kingdom. Peter's second son, Frederick, was 
the first king of Sicily. 

3. GENERAL YIEW OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

§ 241. The institutions which existed during the middle ages originated 

from a mingling together of Roman and Germanic customs and laws, and 

w^ere based upon the greater or less amount of personal freedoin or the 

want of it. These intricate relations are included under the 
I eudal system. 

general term oi "feudal system. After the conquest of the 

depopulated Roman provinces, the land was generally divided into three 
portions: the king took one ; another he divided among his companions 
in the Avar, as their free property (allodial), under the condition of mili- 
tary service ; the third was left to the original inhabitants, upon the pay- 
ment of a tax. But for the purpose of binding the freemen more closely 
to the throne, the king granted poi'tions of his own lands to a part of 
them for life. This was called a fief; the giver was the liege lord, the 
receiver was called liegeman, or vassal. In the same way, rich freemen 
enfeoffed those who were less wealthy with portions of their estates, and 
even of their fiefs (sub-iufeudation), and thus obtained liegemen or vassals 
of their own. Bishops and abbots also gave fiefs to knights, subject to 
the condition of defending the convent and supplying the required con- 
tingent of troops to the arriere-ban. These relations, founded upon 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE MIDDLE AGES. " 157 

mutual good faith, constituted a chain that bound the men of the middle 
ages in a variety of ways, and proved a grievous hinderance to the free- 
dom of person and property. The vassals of the crown or empire gra- 
dually obtained possession of their fiefs as hereditary estates, and by this 
means became so powerful, that they opposed the king as his equals ; the 
rich proprietors deprived the less wealthy of their lands, so that, in their 
capacity of free landlords (barons), they belonged to the class of nobles, 
whilst the freeholders of small estates were degraded to the condition of 
dependents, and cultivated their former possessions as hereditary tenants. 
The number of serfs, who W'ere looked upon as belonging to the land, 
and surrendered as slaves without rights to the arbitrary will of their 
masters, was still very great. All who were in the position of dependents 
or serfs, were under certain obligations to the land-owner, either to pay 
tithes on their pi'oduce of fruit, wine, or cattle, or contributions of money 
upon stated occasions, or to perform unpaid labor (soccage duties). These 
taxes and duties, under the name of " feudal burdens," became more 
numerous and oppressive with time. 

§ 242. Men were divided in the middle ages, according to their call- 
ings, into three classes, — warriors, teachers, and producers : — 

1. The warrior class embraced the nobility and tlie knights with their 
vassals and followers. The rank of knight depended upon being descended 
from a knightly family, and the kniglitly education as page or squire, 
during which, the spurs were to be eai'ned by some feat of arms, before 
the candidate could be received into the fellowship by the accolade. The 
great end of knighthood was war, sometimes for the purpose of displaying 
strength or acquiring honor ; sometimes, to defend religion and its minis- 
ters, the church and the clergy ; and sometimes, to protect women, as the 
weaker sex. That respect for women, which is the peculiar distinction 
of the German character, produced the devotion to the fair sex and the 
services of gallantry which were the soul of the chivalry and poetry of 
the middle ages. Knightly games or tournaments, in which the prize 
was presented to the victor by a maiden of noble condition, served to pre- 
serve and invigorate the spirit of chivalry ; and that no unqualified person 
might surreptitiously introduce himself under cover of his armor, coats 
of arms were introduced as symbols of names and families. 

§ 243. — 2. The teacher class included the whole of the clergy ; not 
only the manifold grades of the priesthood, but also the monks. In ex- 
clusive possession of the learning of the time, and invested with the power 
of deciding the salvation of men's souls, the clergy acquired vast authority 
over the ignorant and superstitious people of the middle ages. The head 
Hiera h - ^^ ^^^^ church, the pope, assumed the command over all tem- 
poral princes and kingdoms, and regarded the imperial crown 
as his fief; the superior clergy, besides their ecclesiastical dignities, were 
frequently in possession of the most influential offices of the state ; and 
14 



158 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

the greater number of the archbishoprics, bishoprics, and abbacies gradu- 
ally acquired great possessions, so as to be raised to an equality with 
principalities. Magnificent cathedrals, adorned with all the productions 
of art, gave evidence of the greatness of the episcopal residences. A 
luxurious life in splendidly-ornamented houses seemed the chief privilege 
of the superior clergy. The episcopal power, which at first Avas very 
considerable, was perpetually curtailed by the Roman Consistory. The 
investiture of bishops, which had originally been in the hands of the 
prince, was gradually claimed as the exclusive privilege of the Roman 
court ; the spiritual jurisdiction of the rural bishops was more and more 
abridged, whilst the papal court of judicature in Rome decided all impor- 
tant questions before its own tribunal, and withdrew many cloisters and 
abbeys from the episcopal authority, and placed them under its own im- 
mediate jurisdiction. Vast sums were obliged to be paid for all appoint- 
ments, decisions, and dispensations, by which means much money poured 
into Rome. For the purpose of keeping a watchful eye upon the affairs 
of the whole church, and managing every thing from Rome, papal legates 
were constantly traversing the difierent kingdoms. By these means, the 
papal power became unlimited, and the higher it rose, the less did any 
one dare to raise his voice against it. Every opposer of the existing 
ecclesiastical institutions Avas regarded as an enemy of the church, and 
the audacious offenders were threatened with the most fearful punish- 
ments of the church in their triple gradation, — excommunication, which 
affected only the individual ; the interdict, Avhich was pronounced over 
whole countries, and forbade the exercise of every religious and eccle- 
siastical function ; and a crusade, with the inquisition, by Avhich whole 
provinces were given up to utter destruction. This power of the papacy 
was especially promoted, first, by the spurious Isidorian decretals, a col- 
lection of ecclesiastical laws and decisions, which, professedly belonging 
to the first four centuries, were in reality, most of them, produced in the 
ninth, and which give the whole legislative and judiciary authority of the 
Church to the pope ; secondly, by the rapid increase of the monks, of the 
ecclesiastical orders, and of convents ; thirdly, by the learned men of the 
middle ages, called schoolmen. 

§ 244. Monachism took its rise in the East, where a solitary and con- 
templative life, devoted to the consideration of divine subjects, had always 

been considered more meritorious than active exertion. This 

Monachism. „. ^ ^^ -, -, ^ -, it 

callmg was gradually adopted by so many, that, at the end 

of the third century, the Egyptian Antonius, who had cast away his vast 

possessions and chosen the desert for his residence, collected together the 

hitherto dispersed anchorites (monachi) into fenced places (monasteria, 

ccenobia, claustra, cloisters), that they might live together in fellowship ; 

and his disciple, Pachomius, gave the brotherhood a rule. Monachism 

soon extended to the West. In the sixth centuiy, Benedict of Nursia 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 159 

established the first monastery on Mount Casino, in Lower Italy, and be- 
came by this means the founder of the widely-spread order of Bene- 
dictines, which rapidly extended itself among all nations, and built many 
convents. These monasteries, erected for the most part in beautiful and 
remote situations, and the inhabitants of which were obliged to take the 
three vows of chastity (celibacy), personal poverty, and obedience, proved, 
in those days of lawlessness and barbarism, a blessing to mankind. They 
converted heaths and forests into flourishing farms ; they afforded a place 
of refuge (asylum) to the persecuted and oppressed ; they ennobled the 
rude minds of men by the preaching of the Gospel; they planted the 
seeds of morality and civilization in the bosoms of the young by their 
schools for education ; and they preserved the remains of ancient litera- 
ture and philosophy from utter destruction. Many of the Benedictine 
monasteries were the nurseries of education, the arts, and the sciences, 
as St. Gallen, Fulda, lieichenau, and Corvey (in Westphalia), and many 
others. When the Benedictine order became I'claxed, the monastery of 
Clugny, in Burgundy, separated itself from them in the tenth century, 
and introduced a more rigid discipline. In the twelfth century, the 
monks of Clugny numbered upwards of 2000 cloisters. But this order, 
also, soon proved insufficient to satisfy the strong demands of the middle 
age against the allurements of sin and the seductions of the flesh ; so 
that, at the end of the eleventh century, the Cistercians, and a few de- 
cades later, the order of Premonstrants, sprang up ; the former in Bur- 
gundy (Citeaux), the latter in a woody country near Laon (Premontre). 
The order of Carthusians, founded about the year 1084, which com- 
menced with a cloister of anchorites (Carthusia, Chartreuse) in a rugged 
valley near Grenoble, was the most austere in its practice. A life of soli- 
tude and silence in a cell, a spare and meagre diet, a penitential garment 
of hair, flagellations, and the rigid practice of devotional exercises, were 
duties imposed upon every member of this fraternity. 

§ 245. The establishment of the so-called mendicant orders, in the 
Franciscans thirteenth century, was remarkably productive of results, 
and Domini- Francis of Assisi (a. d. 1226), the son of a rich merchant, 
cans. renounced all his possessions, clothed himself in rags, and 

wandered through the world, begging and preaching repentance. His 
fiery zeal procured him disciples, who, like himself, renounced their 
worldly possessions, fasted, prayed, tore their backs with scourges, and 
supplied their slender wants from voluntary alms and donations. The 
order of Franciscans, or Minorites, founded by him, spread themselves 
rapidly through all countries. Contemporaneously with the Franciscans, 
who in process of time divided into numerous branches, arose the order 
of Dominicans, or preaching monks, founded by an illustrious and learned 
Spaniard, Dominicus, and whose dearest objects were the maintenance of 
the predominant faith in its purity, and the extinction of heretical opi- 



160 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

nions. The conversion of the Albigenses (§ 228), among whom their 
founder had resided for a considerable time, was the first attempt of the 
order, the members of which took a vow of entire poverty, and endea- 
vored to win heaven by austerity and the practice of a rigid devotion. 
It was for these reasons that the court of inquisition, with its frightful 
examinations, dungeons, and tortures, was committed to them. The 
mendicant orders Avere the most powerful support of the pope, by whom 
they were consequently endowed with the greatest privileges, and with- 
drawn from the jurisdiction of the bishops. The Franciscans possessed 
the hearts of the people, with whose joys and sorrows they sympathized, 
and were principally occupied in the cure of souls : the Dominicans de- 
voted themselves to the sciences, gradually filled the chairs of the univer- 
sities, and numbered many of the greatest teachers of the Church among 
their members. 

§ 246. — 3. To the productive class belonged the inhabitants of the 
towns and country who were engaged in the occupations of peace. The 
peasantry, who were for the most part in a condition of serfdom, and 
took no share in public life, were at first exclusively understood by this 
title. But when the number of the towns was increased by the efforts 
of the emperors of the Saxon and Hohenstaufen lines, and many of the 
inhabitants of the country settled in them, the third class divided itself 
into citizens and peasants, and obtained various privileges and liberties. 
These towns were distinguished as imperial towns, which were under the 
immediate control of the emperor, and represented in the imperial diet ; 
and provincial towns, which belonged to the territory of a prince. The 
former were the most ancient, as well as the richest and most powerful, 
and it was in them that the town policy of the middle ages was developed. 
The inhabitants originally consisted, as in ancient Rome, of free patrician 
families, and a tributary and dependent class employed in trade and agri- 
culture, who, as tenants and inferior burghers, possessed no share in the 
privileges of the citizens. It was from the former that the mayor was 
chosen. After a time, the inferior burghers succeeded in gaining the 
ascendency over the patrician families. With this object, the artificers 
formed themselves into guilds and corporations, by which means a public 
spirit was awakened, and the inferior class of citizens rendered more 
powerful. These guilds, whose strength consisted in the stout arms of 
their members, soon attained such power, that they not only everywhere 
obtained the rights of citizenship, and a share in the government of the 
city, but, in very many towns, the rule of the patricians Avas thrust aside 
by the power of the guilds. The guilds marched into the field with their 
own banners, under the conduct of the guild-master, and defended their 
liberties without, as they had known how to gain and maintain them within. 
§ 247. The literature of the middle ages was of a threefold chai-acter : — 
1. Writings on religion and the Church ; the most important of which 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 161 

were composed by the schoolraen and the mystics. By schoolmen 
are to be undersrood those philosophical writers who made 
the doctrines and dogmas of the Church the objects of their 
speculation and inquiry. In doing this, they employed the rules of the 
Aristotelian dialectics, and invented a number of formulas and scholastic 
terms (terminologies), and descended at length to trifling subtleties and 
frivolous definitions and demonsti'ations. Tlie schoolmen produced works 
in which we hardly know whether most to admire the acuteness displayed 
in the divisions of the subject, and in the development and connection of 
the conclusions, or the diligence, the learning, and the wonderful power 
of application. In the thirteenth century, scholasticism attained its high- 
est perfection in the persons of the Dominican, Thomas Aquinas, and 
the Franciscan, Duns Scotus ; so that, from this period, the scholastics 
were all divided into Thomists and Scotists. Men of warm feelings and 
sensitive natures were not content with the dry logic of these schoolmen ; 
they opposed therefoi'e a religion of feeling, of poetry, and of imagina- 
tion, to the Christianity built upon philosophical rales and forms of rea- 
soning. This was first done by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (§ 222), and by 
the noble Bonaventura (a. d. 1274) ; but in the most comprehensive way, 
by the mystics. These latter imitated the necessitous life of Christ, and 
sought to overcome the wickedness of the world by the castigatiou of the 
body and the mortification of the fleshly appetites, and strove to effect a 

spiritual union between themselves and God. Mysticism has 
Mystics. .n . 

had a powerful influence both upon life and literature ; and 

although the inculcation of meekness and self-humiliation paralyzed 
active exertion, and a life devoted to the emotions and sentiments occa- 
sionally produced fanaticism, yet its influence upon a race which was 
sunk in barbarism and stupidity was, on the whole, beneficial. The 
" Imitation of the Life of Christ," by the Dominican monk, John Tauler 
of Strasburg, and the "Book of Everlasting Wisdom," of Henry Suso of 
Constance, were held in great esteem. The brethren of the Common 
Life, to whom belonged Thomas a Kempis (a. d. 1471), the writer of 
the widely-circulated devotional work, called the " Imitation of Christ," 
which has been translated into all languages, were the most active among 
the mystics. 

§ 248. — 2. Not only theological and philosophical studies were, and 
remained, in the hands of the clergy, but also mathematical and natural 
science, and the writing of history. The Greeks and Arabians exercised 
the greatest influence in extending and perfecting the material sciences. 
It was from the Arabian schools that the western clergy drew the greater 
part of their admired wisdom. Albertus Magnus, a widely-travelled 
and much esteemed teacher, possessed such a knowledge of physics, che- 
mistry, and similar subjects, that he was generally regarded as a sorcerer. 
Among the composers of Latin chronicles and annals, William of Tyrus, 
14* 



162 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

tlie historian of the Crusades and the Holy Land, took the first place in 
France ; and Otho of Freisingen, the half-brother of the emperor, Con- 
rad III., in Germany. By the side of these learned historical composi- 
tions, thei'c were already, at the time of the crusades, in Italy, France, 
and Spain, historical descriptions of particular periods and events, in the 
vernacular tongues, which, although less trustworthy than the former, are 
more interesting to read, and of more importance to the history of civil- 
ization. Among these may be mentioned the History of the Fourth 
Crusade, by Villehardouin (§ 224), Joinville's History and Chronicle of 
St. Louis ; and, before all, Froissart's History and Chronicle of his own 
Times (a. d. 1329-1400). 

§ 249. — 3. Whilst learned literature was cultivated by the priests 
exclusively, the art of poetry passed at an early period into the hands of 
the knights, chiefly because love (min7ie), and devotion to the ladies, — 
feelings, to which the clergy, on account of their condition, dared not de- 
vote themselves, were the soul and essence of the latter. The poetry of 
the middle ages was alike, both as to its form and subject-matter, in all 
the nations of Europe. This was partly occasioned by the great inter- 
course that took place among people during the crusades, which facili- 
tated the interchange of legends and poems, and partly by the great 
diffusion and general intelligibility of the Romance language. In France, 
Italy, Spain, and, to a certain extent, in England, languages were then 
spoken which bore a strong resemblance to each othei-, so that the lite- 
rary productions of one country could be understood without difliculty in 
the rest. The middle-age poetry was divided into three kinds, according 
to the subject; — Heroic poems and heroic ballads (Epopee, Romance), 
where the deeds of knights, battles, adventures, and love affairs — the 
indispensable element of romantic poetry — formed the materials; son- 
nets, in which the poet expressed his feelings, emotions, or thoughts, in 
melodious verses ; and religious poetry, in which the outpourings of devo- 
tion and religious enthusiasm, the praises of God and the Virgin, or the 
pious actions and histories of the saints, formed the subject. The epic 
poems dealt with certain cycles of legends, partly derived from the 
ancient world, as the Alexandriad of the priest Lamprecht, and partly 
ffom the Christian period, as the romance of Charlemagne and his Pala- 
dins (for example, the lay of Roland, by the priest Conrad), and the 
British king Arthur and his Round Table, with which the Welsh legend 
of the Grale was afterwards connected. To the latter cycle of romance, 
belong the two greatest epics of the middle age, the Percival of Wolfram 
of Eschenbach (a. d. 1200), and the Tristran and Isolde of Gottfried of 
Straaburg. But the. glory of German heroic poetry is the Niebelung- 
enlied, the materials of which are derived from the migrations of na- 
tions. The lyric poets, that in Germany were called " minnesanger," and 
in France, " troubadours," made the tender emotions of the heart, or the 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CnURCII. 163 

feelings of love, the subject of their poems ; or they lashed depravity of 
morals and the corruptions of the clergy in satirical compositions, called 
Sirventes. In Germany, the most celebrated of the minnesangers was 
"Walter Vogelweide, who lived at the court of Hermann of Thuringia, 
At that time, the castle of Wartburg, near Eisenach, in Thuringia, was 
the place of assembly for the greatest and most renowned singers. But 
Italy could display the greatest poet of the middle ages. After the stern 
Ghibelline, Dante of Florence (a. d. 1321), had moulded the poetical 
language of Italy in his gi-eat epic poem, " The Divine Comedy," Pe- 
trarch (a. d. 1374) brought it to the highest pei'fection of harmony in 
his Odes to Laura, while his contemporary, Boccaccio, became the crea- 
tor of Italian prose by his tales and novels (Decameron). Dante's sub- 
lime poem, which consists of three parts, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, 
contains the whole wisdom of the middle ages, the whole treasure of the 
then acquired science, so that it was said with truth, that heaven and 
earth had each put a hand to Dante's poem. Petrarch's other works 
are written in Latin. He, as well as Boccaccio, was mainly instrumental 
in the restoration of the ancient literature and civilization. 



V. DECAY OF CHIYALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH. 

1. THE INTERREGNUM (1250 1273). 

§ 250. The period after the death of Frederick II. was a momentous 
one for Germany. The imperial title was borne by foreign princes 
without power or influence, whilst at home a state of disorder and law- 
lessness prevailed, in which the strong alone could obtain justice. After 
William of Holland (§ 237) had fallen in battle against the brave Fris- 
landers, the archbishop of Cologne turned the election to the wealthy 
Richard of Cornwall, brother of the English king, whilst the archbishop 
of Treves and his party adorned Alfonso X. the Wise, of Castile, with 
the title of emperor. The former sailed repeatedly up the Rhine laden 
v.'ith treasures^ to satisfy the avarice of the princes who had elected him; 
the latter never visited the kingdom to the government of which he had 
been invited. The princes and bishops employed this interregnum in 
enlarging their territories, and possessing themselves of privileges, whilst 
the knights and vassals abused their strength by waylaying and plunder- 
ing. They led a wild and predatory life in their castles, which, as the 
ruins yet show, were built upon the banks of navigable streams or near 
frequented highways ; dragged travellers into their dungeons for the 
purpose of extorting a heavy ransom; plundered the wagons of the 



164 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

* 
mercantile towns, and bade defiance, from behind their strong walls, to 

the powerless laws and tribunals. Attempts were made to remedy this 
state of things, 1. By the secret proceedings of the Fehmgericht (secret 
tribunal), established by the archbishop of Cologne in Westphalia (Dort- 
mund); 2. By confederations of numerous towns for the purpose of mu- 
tual defence. The most important of these confederations were the 
Hanseatic, in Northern Germany, which included Hamburg, Lubeck, 
Bremen, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Riga, and many other trading 
cities ; and the confederation of the Rhine, which embraced the towns of 
Worms, Mayence, Spire, Strasburg, Basle, and numerous others. 

2. ORIGIN OF THE POWER OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG AND OP 
THE HELVETIC CONFEDERATION. 

§ 251. During the interregnum, many of the princes and bishops had 
assumed the rights of sovereignty. To avoid losing what had been ob- 
tained, the princes to whom the right of election then chiefly belonged, 
and who Avere in consequence called Electors, sought to prevent the ele- 
vation of any prince whose lands and vassals rendered him foi'midable. 
At the same time, they required an energetic man, who should be able to 
restrain the prevailing lawlessness, and to break the threatening power of 
Eudolf of Ottocar, king of Bohemia, Moravia, and Austria. All these 
Hapsburg, qualities were possessed by Count Rudolf of Hapsburg, 
A. D. 1273- who was elected emperor by the influence of the archbishop 
of Mayence, with whom he was then on friendly terms. His 
moderate hereditaiy estates, in Alsatia, occasioned no alarm to the prin- 
ces ; his courage, strength, and skill had been long proved and acknov/1- 
edged ; but what contributed especially to his election was his^piety, and 
the inclination he had always displayed to the church and clergy. When, 
therefore, Rudolf had assured to the pope and the German princes the 
continuance of the privileges and territories that they had either usurped 
or acquired by violence, his election was generally recognized, and 
Alfonso of Castile was induced to abdicate. Ottocar alone refused to do 
homag&j and failed to appear at the appointed diet. Upon this, Rudolf 
declared war against him, marched into the enemy's territories with the 
aid of his Switzers and Alsatians, and that of the German princes whom 
he had connected to his house by marriages with his numerous daughters, 
and won the glorious victory on the Marchfeld. Ottocar 
Avas killed in the fight ; nothing but Bohemia and Moravia 
was left to his son Wenceslaus ; the remaining countries of Austria, 
Styria, and Carniola, Rudolf settled on his sons, and by tlife means be- 
came the founder of the Austrian house of Hapsburg. 

§ 252. As Rudolf of Hapsburg avoided all interference in the alFairs 
of Italy, he was able to turn his undivided energies to Germany. He 
succeeded, after a succession of campaigns and battles, chiefly in Swabia, 



«' 



( 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH. 165 

against the rapacious Eberhard of Wirtemberg, and in Burgundy, in 
regaining many of the fiefs, lands, privileges, and revenues, that had been 
alienated from the empire. But his greatest service was his securing the 
peace of the country and restoring law and order. He traversed the 
whole empire, and called the robber nobility to a severe reckoning. In 
Thuringia alone, he had twenty-nine knights executed, and destroyed 
sixty castles, and reduced, in a single year, upwards of seventy fortresses 
in Franconia and on the Rhine. He died at an advanced age, at Go- 
mersheim, during one of these expeditions, and Avas buried at Spire. 
His simplicity, virtue, and honesty gained him no less respect than his 
intelligence, his impartial justice, and his warlike achievements. He was 
only wanting in the poetical magnanimity of the house of Hohenstaufen. 
§ 253. The princes, partly out of fear of the power of the Hapsburg- 
ers, and partly from dislike to Rudolf's cniel and avaricious son Albert, 
were induced, at the instigation of the archbishop of Mayence, to elect 
Adolf of Count Adolf of Nassau. But he, like Rudolf, attempted to 

Nassau, a. d. enlarge his own small territories, and made use of the loan 
1291-1298. i^g jj^^ received fi*om the king of England to assist him in 
raising German troops, in purchasing Thuringia rfhd Misnia from Albert 
the Uncourteous (§ 2-iO). This disgraceful transaction involved him in 
a Avar with Albert's son, " Frederick Avith the bitten cheek," and Diez- 
man, whom their degenerate father had attempted to deprive of their 
patrimony. The public disgust at this dishonest proceeding, and the dis- 
content of the electoral princes of the Rhine (the Ralatinate, Mayence, 
Treves, and Cologne), whom the emperor had deprived of the unjustly- 
acquired tolls of the river, had aided in forming a party favorable to his 
opponent Albert. Albert procured the deposition of Adolf and his own 
election ; he then marched with his army upon the Rhine, and was victo- 
rious in the battle at Gollheim near the Donnersberg. Adolf, 

A D 1*^98 

hurled from his horse by the lance of his rival, found his 
Albert of death in the tumult. His body rests in the cathedral of 
Austria, A. D. Spire. Albert of Austria Avas an energetic but severe man, 

whose inflexible disposition might be read in his gloomy and 
one-eyed visage. He was ambitious, and desirous of enlarging his terri- 
tories ; and he therefore not only prosecuted the war against Thuringia, 
but attempted to gain other lands besides. Feared and hated, Albert 
was at length murdered at Windisch on the Reuss, by his own nephew, 
John of Swabia, (Parricida), just as he Avas making preparations for the 
subjugation of the free Swiss. John expiated his deed in a cloister; but 
a fearful revenge was taken by the emperor's wife and daughter upon 
those Avho assisted in the assassination (Wart, Bohn, and Eschenbach), 
and upon all their friends and relatives. 

§ 254. Albert's severity was the foundation of the Helvetic confedera- 
tion. Helvetia was a component part of the German empii-e, and was 



166 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

under the protection of prefects, who exercised there the highest offices of 
jurisdiction. This office was at first filled by the rich and powerful dukes 
of Zahringen, — the founders of Bern and other states. After the ex- 
tinction of this house, the counts of Savoy in the South, and the Haps- 
burffs in the North, elevated themselves above the other 
families by their power and possessions. The latter, to whom 
the landgravate of Aargau belonged, exercised, in the name of the em- 
pire, the functions of protectors over the original cantons on the lake of 
Lucerne, vSchwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, where they held possessions. 

When the Hapsburgs ascended the imperial throne, they attempted 
to bring these cantons vmder the sovereignty of Austria. In further- 
ance of this purpose, Albert gave permission to the governors (Vogte), 
who ruled the lands of Hapsburg, to exercise the laws of the empire over 
the free communities and peasants, and to abuse their position by the 
oppression of the simple, warlike, and freedom-loving mountaineers. 
Upon this, the three oldest cantons, under the guidance of Walther Furst, 
Werner Stauffacher, and Arnold Meichtal, concluded an alliance on the 
Rutli for the protection of their liberties, the results of which were, that 
the fortresses were stormed and the governors expelled, after William 
Tell (as the legend goes) had killed Gesler, the most tyrannical of their 
number, with an arrow, because he had compelled him, for some trifling 
disobedience, to shoot an apple from the head of his son. Albert's assas- 
sination saved the Swiss from the effects of his anger, but his plans were 
taken up by his son Leopold. He marched against the forest cantons 
with an army, but suffered a severe overthrow in the narrow 
pass of Morgarten. The power of the Hapsburgs declined 
from this period in Switzerland. By the accession of the Austrian town 
of Lucerne, in 1332, the whole of the shore of the lake of the four can- 
tons fell into the power of the confederation, Avhich was soon 

A D 1339 

joined by Bern, Zurich, Zug, and many other towns. Li the 
A. D. 1351. i^^^^ig ^^ Sempach (§ 261), the allies (like the Athenian 
democracy at Mai'athon), underwent a fiery trial against the Austrian 
and German chivalry, and pi'oved themselves worthy of their freedom. 

3. PHILIP THE FAIR OF FRANCE, AND THE EMPEROR LOUIS THE 

BAVARIAN. 

§ 255. The ambitious Boniface VIIL, in whose person the papacy 
attained its highest glory, was the origin of its downfall. He assumed 
the office of umpire in a war between Philip IV. the Fair of France, 
and Edward I. of England ; and when Philip declined his interference, 
he forbade the levying of taxes upon the French ecclesiastics. Upon 
this, Philip prohibited the exportation of silver and gold from his king- 
dom, and by this means prevented the receipt of the papal revenue. The 
quarrel to which these proceedings gave rise, during which Boniface 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH. 167 

declared every man a heretic who did not believe that the king was sub- 
ject to the pope in spiritual as well as temporal matters, and Philip by 
his deputies solemnly asserted the independence of the throne, ended by 
an excommunication. Upon this, Nogaret, the chancellor of France, 
entered Italy, and having hired some troops, seized the pope in his native 
city Anagni, and held him prisoner. It is true that Boniface was rescued 
by the country people, who rushed to his assistance, and that he hastened 
to Rome ; but the impression made by the disgi-ace upon the proud and 
violent man was so powerful that he went mad and died. 

A. D. 1303. , . . , 

ihe l^rench pax'ty now succeeded, not only m gettmg the 
excommunication withdrawn, but in inducing the new pope, Clement V. 
(hitherto bishop of Bordeaux), to take up his residence at Avignon in 
the south of France, and thus to put the papacy under the influence of 

the French court. This separation of the head of the church 

from Rome, which was mourned over as a second Babylonian 
captivity, lasted for nearly seventy years. 

§ 25 G. The dissolution of the Order of the Temple (227 b) was the 
first consequence of the alliance between the pope and the French king. 
Dark reports of the blasphemous practices, of the secret crimes and vices, 
of the infidelity and voluptuousness, of which the Order had rendered 
itself guilty, gave Philip the Fair a pretext for suddenly seizing upon 
the persons of the Templars, and confiscating their vast possessions. By 
an unjust prosecution of six years, and by the tortures of the rack, a con- 
fession was at length obtained from the prisoners, which appeared to prove 
the crimes laid to their charge ; and when fifty-four of their number 
retracted the confession extorted from them by torture, as untrue, they 

were condemned as apostates to a lingering death by fire. 

It was in vain that Jacob of Molay, the head-master, pro- 
tested against the proceedings, and oflTered to disprove the whole of the 

accusations. He himself died on the funeral pile, after he 

A D 131*^ 

had summoned the king and the pope to a higher judgment- 
seat. The people reverenced him as a martyr, and recognized the judg- 
ment of God in the death of the two princes which shortly followed. The 
French king appropriated the largest share of the estates and treasures 
of the Templars. 

Henry ^^I. § ^^^* During these events, Henry VII., of Luxemburg, 

A. D. 1308- was governing Germany, not without renown. After adopt- 
1313. ing vigorous measures for the preservation of the internal 

peace of the empire, he took advantage of a contest for the crown of 
Bohemia to add this kingdom to the possessions of his own house, with 
the consent of the Bohemian estates, by marrying his son John to the 
sister of the last king, who was childless. Scarcely had he brought this 
affair, which was the foundation of the vast power of the house of Luxem- 
burg, to a happy conclusion, than he turned his eyes to the long-forgotten 



168 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

and disunited Italy, and undertook an expedition to Home. The advent 
of the emperor Avas greeted Avith joy by the opj^ressed 
Ghibellines; and the great poet Dante, of Florence (§ 249), 
celebrated his appearance by a Latin essay on monarchy, and by songs 
that were soon in the mouths of everybody. Henry received the crown 
of Lombardy in Milan, collected with rigor the taxes that were due in 
the towns of Upper Italy, and experienced an honorable reception in the 
Ghibelline city of Pisa. But despite all his efforts to assume the cha- 
racter of an establisher of peace, the Guelfs and the haughty Florence, 
with the lung of Naples at their head, rose against him with reason. 
The pope himself opposed him, so that his coronation at Rome only took 
place after a lengthened contest. Upon marching into Tuscany for the 
purpose of humbling Florence, Henry died suddenly in the flower of his 
age, near the Ai*no. The joy displayed upon his death by the Guelfs, 
gave rise to the belief thaf he had been poisoned by a Dominican monk. 
The sorrowing Pisans buried him in the churchyard (Campo Santo) of 
their town. 

§ 258. The death of Henry VII. again produced a contest for the 
crown in Germany ; for, of the seven princes who now usually exercised 
the right of election (Palatinate, *Mayence, Treves, Cologne, Bohemia, 
Saxony, Brandenburg), some chose Louis of Bavaria, the others, Frede- 
rick the Fair of Austria. The consequence of this division was an eight 
years' war, which was carried on with particular vigor by Frederick's 
brother, Leopold. Despite the superior strength of the Austrian party, 
Louis, who was an excellent general, maintained his cause with success, 
especially after Leopold's force had been weakened at Morgarten (§ 254). 
It was not, however, till the battle of Miihldorf (or Amfing), 

A D 1322. \ CD/' 

' ) where Frederick was defeated and taken prisoner by the 
skill of the Nuremberg general, Seyfried Schwepperman, that Louis 
attained a decided superiority. Leopold, however, would not submit to 
a peace. Supported by the pope, John XXIL, who pronounced an 
excommunication and an interdict against Louis for having aided the 
Ghibellines in Milan, and by several princes of the empire, Leopold con- 
tinued the Avar, and attempted a new election of emperor. Upon this, 
Louis set at liberty his rival, who was imprisoned in the castle of Traus- 
nitz, upon condition that he should renounce the imperial dignity, and 
persuade his party to a peace. But when neither the pope nor Leopold 
would listen to the proposal, Frederick, true to his word, returned to 
captivity, a conduct which so moved his chivalrous opponent, that he lived 
with him henceforth in the closest friendship, and would even have shared 
the empire with him, had not the Electors prevented it. Leo- 
pold died shortly afterwards, but the impetuous pope retained 
his animosity against Louis, which induced the latter to appoint Frede- 
"rick regent of the empire, and undertake an expedition into Italy. 



/ 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTIOX OF THE CHURCH. 169 

§ 259. Louis was at first successful in Italy. Supported by the Ghi- 
bellines and the Minorites, he made brilliant progress, and succeeded in 
getting an anti-pope elected ; but when, for the purpose of satisfying his 
mercenary troops, he exacted heavy levies of money from the Italian 
towns, matters were, •.juiokly altered. His retreat to Germany, where 
Frederick h^ in the mean time died, completed the trium])h of the papal 
party. On the other hand, the obstinacy with which John XXII, and 
his successor Benedict XII. retained the excommunication pronounced 
against Louis, and rejected all attempts at reconciliation, irritated the 
German princes to such a degree, that, at an electoral Diet held at Reuse, 
they uttered the declaration, " that henceforth every election of emperor 
by the princes was valid, without the confirmation of the pope." The. 
ecclesiastics who obeyed the interdict were treated as disturbers of the 
public peace, and deprived of their offices. The notorious influence exer- 
cised by the French court upon all the proc^dings of the pope, and the 
avarice and sensuality of the head of the Church and of the cardinals in 
Avignon, diminished the authority of the court of Rome. But Louis 
himself very soon forfeited the confidence and affection of the German 
princes, by allowing his avarice and desire of enlarging his territories to 
lead him into unjust and violent measures. Thence it was that the 
French and papal party succeeded in gaining over a part of the electoral 
princes, and getting a rival emperor chosen from the house 
of Luxemburg. But the greater part of the German people, 
and particularly the imperial towns, sided with Louis, so that the new 
emperor, Charles IV. (son of King John of Bohemia), was not generally 
recognized, until the rqbust Louis lost his life in a bear-hunt, near 
Munich, and his successor, Giinter of Schwarzburg, elected 

A. D. 1349. , , -r. . 111. 1 

by the Bavarian party, had sunk into an early grave at 
Frankfort. • 

4. THE EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 

Charles IV. § 260. Charles IV. was a sagacious prince, \sho was intent 

A- T>- upon his own interests and the increase of the power of his 

house, and in whose mind money and property held a higher 
place than honor or renown. It was through him that the imperial 
power lost all respect in Italy, where he permitted the imperial privileges 
to be pui'chased by the towns and princes. The contests between Guelf 
and Ghibelline ceased from this time, but they only gave place to con- 
tentions between the princes and free towns concerning the enlargement 
of their territories ; mercenary troops were now employed (as formerly 
in Greece) instead of the earlier militia, and the enterprising leaders of 
these bands (Condottieri) not unfrequently held the fate of states in their 
hands, and succeeded in getting possession of their government. The 
eflforts of Charles in Germany, also, were chiefly directed to the gratifica- 
15 



170 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

tion of his avarice and lust of territory. He sold the liberties and privi- 
leges of the imperial towns; he granted letters of nobility for money ; lie 
added Brandenburg and other territories to his patrimonial possessions. 
His agency was most beneficially felt in Bohemia, Avhich attained by his 
means to greater prosperity. Artists and artisans were summoned from 
Germany and Italy, towns (Carlsbad) a ; 1 villages were built, agriculture 
and trade encouraged, roads and bridges planned, and heaths and forests 
brought into cultivation. Charles, with the consent of the pope and the 
cooperation of the poet Petrarch, erected the first German 

A T) 1^4S 

university in Prague (§ 249), which soon numbered from 

5000 to 7000 students. From Charles IV. emanated the first imperial 

-code of laws, known by the name of the Golden Bull, which referred the 

choosing of emperors exclusively to the seven Electors, and determined 

the precedence of the princes. 

§ 2G1. The imperial authority was much decayed, and confusion and 
lawlessness prevailed all over Germany. The laws respecting disturb- 
ance of the public peace were little regai-ded; club-law (faustrecht), the 
only law attended to, called upon every man to take care of himself, 
and alliances were formed to do this more effectually. This state of 
disorder became particularly prevalent under Charles's son and succes- 
Wenceslaus sor, Wenceslaus, a rude, hot-headed man, devoted to drink. 
A. j>. 1378 - For whilst the emperor was leading a dissolute life in Bohe- 
'^^^^- mia, devoting himself to hunting, quarrelling with his nobles 

and the clergy, and rendering himself hateful and contemptible by his 
cruelty, and barbarous conduct to the vicar Nepomuk, whom he ordered 
to be thrown from the bridge of Prague into the Moldau, the German 
empire, with its battles and its mise)"'es, was left to its fate. The towns 
in Swabia, in Franeonia, and on the Rhine, united themselves in an alli- 
ance to preserve the peace of the country, and for defence against the 
rapacious nobles. The knights, who gained their living by plunder and 
highway robbery, and who were threatened by this alliance, followed the 
example of their enemies, and strengthened themselves by confederations 
of knights (called the Schlegler, and the Lowen and Hornerbund). The 
two confederations w^ere perpetually engaged in war with each other, till 
at length, the murder of the bishop of Salzburg by a Bavarian duke 

occasioned the gi-eat cities' war, which produced extreme 

A 1) 1388 . . 

distress in the south of Germany. The citizens were victo- 
rious in Bavaria ; in Franeonia, the fortune of war was rendered dubi- 
ous by the courage of the Nuremburgers ; but in Swabia, where the 
valiant 'enemy of the towns, Eberhard the Grumbler, of Wirtemberg, 
stood at the head of the nobility, the burghers suffered great loss near 
Dofiingen, and at Worms and Fi*ankfort, succumbed to the iron ranks of 
the knights of Hesse and the Palatinate. About the same time, the 
Swiss confederation was contending with far greater success against the 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH. 171 

nobles of southern Germany. Duke Leopold of Austria invaded the 
freedom-loving mountaineers, with a host of armed nobles, ^fho reve- 
renced him as the flower of chivalry. But in the battle of 
A. D. 13S6. ggjjjp^ch, where the heroic Arnold Winkelreid of Unter- 
Avalden " made a path " for his countrymen into the iron-clad ranks of the 
knights, by embracing a numbe of their lances and burying the points 
in his bosom, the proud duke, with 65 G of his nobles, fell beneath the 
maces of the Swiss peasants. 

§ 2G2. The inability of the emperor to remedy the prevailing confu- 
sion at length induced the Electors, in a diet at Lahnstein, 
A. i>. 11 . ^^ pronounce Wenceslaus's deposition, " because he had not 
aided the peace of the Church, had sold the title of duke to the rich and 
crafty Visconti in Milan, had not maintained the public peace, and had 
governed tyranically and with cruelty in Bohemia." Kupert of the Pa- 
Rupert, A. D. latinate was elected in his place ; he was the grandson of that 
1400-1410. Eupert who, in the year of the battle of Sempach, had 
founded the university of Heidelberg. But even he, despite many good 
qualities, was not equal to the difficulties of the times. He Avas com- 
pelled to grant the princes and estates the right of forming confedera- 
tions, and of maintaining the public peace in their own way ; and when he 
attempted to restore Milan to the empire, he suffered a defeat from the 
Italian Condottieri (§ 260), who had discovered a more scientific system 
of tactics. He was equally unsuccessful in his attempts to restore tran- 
quillity to the Church, an object that was first accomplished with un- 
speakable difficulty by his successor, Sigismond, the brother of Wences- 
Sioismund, l^^s. The great council of the Church, that was held by 
A. D. 1410 - Sigismond for this purpose, exhausted the treasury to that 
'^^^' degree, that the emperor was obliged at first to pledge the 

March of Brandenburg, and the electoi'al dignity, to Frederick of Ho- 
henzollern, and afterwards to surrender them to him as his private and 
hereditary property. 

5. THE DlVISIO^r IX THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT COUNCILS. 

§ 263. It had long been wished that the papal chair should be re- 
moved from Avignon to Rome ; but the cai'dinals who were in the French 
interest, and who felt themselves better and more independent under the 
mild and beautiful sky of southern France, prevented the measure. This, 
at length, induced the Italian party to elect a pope of their own. By this 
means, the Church got two popes, one in Avignon, the other in Kome, 
each of whom declared himself the rightfully elected head of the Church, 
and fulminated anathemas airainst his rival and his adherents. The 
whole of western Christendom was divided, consciences perplexed, and 
the Chui-ch rent asunder. It was in vain that the synod of Pisa attempt- 
ed to heal the evil by deposing one pope and electing another ; — the 



172 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

former two maintained their claims, so that the Church was now triply 
divided. A general discontent spread through the Christian world, and 
engendered a loud demand for a reformation of the Church, both in its 
head and members. Whilst the moderate party, and in particular, the 
learned theologians of the university of Paris (Sorbonne), wished to bring 
about this reformation by a general council, which should be superior to 
the pope, the disciples and adherents of the Oxford profes- 
sor, John Wickliff, aimed at a thorough change both in the 
doctrine and constitution of the Church. Wickliff" had not only declared 
the papacy to be an unchristian institution, and preached zealously 
against absolution, monachism, the worship of saints, and similar matters, 
but had stood forward as a reformer, by translating the Bible into English, 
and rejecting many articles of faith, such as auricular confession, celibacy, 
and transubstantiation. The most celebrated of his followers was John 
Huss, professor in Prague, a man distinguished for his learning, and moral 
life, as well as by Christian gentleness. He preached against the abuses of 
the papacy ; against the wealth and secular power of the clergy ; against 
monachism and absolution : and although the pope excommunicated him 
and condemned his writings, the number of his adherents, among Avhom 
a Bohemian nobleman, Jerome of Faulfisch, distinguished himself 
by his zeal, increased every day. The Germans in the university of 
Prague were curtailed of their privileges for showing an inclination to 
the new doctrines of Huss, for which reason 5000 students and profes- 
sors quitted the place, and thus brought about the foundation of other 
universities, that of Leipsic among the tirst. 

§ 264. "When at length. Pope John XXHI., importuned by the Empe- 

., , ror Si2;ismond, called the Council of Constance, troops of 
Council of » ',.,,... ^ ,, . 1 . , 

Constance temporal and spiritual dignitaries oi all nations poured into 

A. D. 1414- the town, where the splendor of the whole West was at once 
1418. united. 150,000 men are said to have assembled there. 

The unity and reformation of the Church was the lofty aim of the synod. 
In the first place, therefore, the three popes were either deposed or per- 
suaded to resign ; and when John XXHI. seized the opportunity aiforded 
by a tournament to escape in disguise, by the aid of Frederick of Aus- 
tria, and recalled his abdication, the council declared itself independent 
and superior to the pope, and united with the emperor in punishing the 
refractory. Frederick of Austria was outlawed, and deprived of Aargau 
and other possessions by the Swiss, and John was for a long time held 
prisoner in the castle of Heidelberg. But the efforts of the French and 
Germans, who wished in the first place to reform the Church, and then 
to elect a new pope, were frustrated by the Italians (Ultramontani), who 
insisted before all things upon an election of pope. Their opinion pre- 
vailed, and Martin V., was raised to the papal chair. He was a mode- 
rate man, who contrived, by abolishing a few abuses, and by skilfully 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH. 173 

conducted necrotiations, to divide the votes and baffle the eflforts of the 
council. In this way, the hopes and wishes of the people were disap- 
pointed ; the pope retained his power, and the Church was left in her 
corruption. But the Council of Constance has enriched history with one 
deed of horror, — the burning of Huss and Jerome of Prague. The 
council proceeded at its commencement to an examination of doctrines 
deviatina; from those of the Church, and had condemned WickliiF's wri- 
tings to the flames, and summoned Huss to answer for his opinions. 
Huss proceeded to Constance, provided with an imperial passport, by 
which he was assured of a safe return to his home, but was imprisoned 
as soon as he arrived there, and accused of disseminating heresy. It 
was in vain that he defended himself with dignity against the charges — 
his judges were his accusers ; it was in vain that his friends appealed to 
the imperial safe-conduct, — the synod laid down the principle, that no 
faith was to be kept with heretics, and demanded an unconditional abjura- 
tion. When Huss refused to do this, he was condemned to 
suifer death by fire as an obstinate teacher of heresy; a 
doom which he underwent with the firmness and composure of a martyr. 
A year later, Jerome also endured the agonies of the burning pile with 
the courage of a stoic. 

§ 265. The intelligence of this hori'ible event at Constance incited the 
Hussites to a furious religious war. The cup, which, according to the 
views of Huss, was not to be withheld fi'om the laity, was borne before their 
armies as the symbol of their cause (hence Utraquists and Calixtines) ; 
and a heavy vengeance was exacted from the priests who refused to 
administer it. It was in vain that the pope fulminated an interdict 
against the adherents of Huss, their numbers increased daily ; they 
stormed the town-house cf Prague, and murdered the counsellors, 
which so enraged the old Emperor Wenceslaus, that he died 
of apoplexy. Sigismond ought now to have become king 
of Bohemia also ; but the whole nation flew to arms, to prevent the 
faithless emperor from taking possession of the country. John Ziska, a 
general expert in war, valiant, and endowed with a wonderful talent of 
governing the masses, placed himself at its head. It was in vain that 
Sigismond led three imperial armies against the Hussites; his troops re- 
coiled in dismay before the wild fury of the enraged people. The Hus- 
sites burnt down the Bohemian churches and convents, and carried theii 
ravages into the neighboring countries. The name of Ziska, the blind 
general, was a terror to the nations. After his death, the moderate party 
(Calixtines) separated themselves from the radicals (Taboriles). The 
latter, under the conduct of Procopius the Great and the Little, continu- 
ed their incendiary course, ravaged Saxony, and extorted tribute from 
Brandenburg and Bavaria, whilst the Calixtines consented to a peace 
when the Council of Basle consented to the use of the cup in the Lord's 

15* 



174 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Supper, and to pi'eaching in the vernacular tongue. It was only when 

the Taborites sutFered a defeat near Prague, and the two 
A. D. 1433. ° 

Procopiuses were killed, that the emperor, by the dexterity 

of his chancellor Schlick, succeeded in bringing them to a peace ; 
whereupon Sigismond was acknowledged king. But the glory of Bohe- 
mia was humbled to the dust. A few decades later, a small party of the 
former Hussites separated from the Church and formed a separate sect, 
since known as the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, " poor, scripture- 
proof, and peaceful." 

Council of § 266. In the council of Basle, to the summoning of 

Basle, A. D. which, Martin V., successor of Eugenius IV., had, after long 
1431-1-149. hesitation, consented, the reformation of the Church, which 
had been interrupted in that of Constance, was to be concluded, and the 
Hussite controversy arranged. But the proceedings here soon took a 
course that seemed to endanger the papal power. The assembly, which 
consisted in part of the lo^v'er order of clergy, diminished the money 
charges that the court of Eome imposed upon the provincial churches, 
and interdicted the incroachments of the pope in the filling up of bishop- 
rics and benefices. Eugenius was rendered so anxious by these and 
other similar resolutions, that he seized the first pretext for removing the 
council to Ferrara, and afterwards to Florence. But many of the clergy 
would not attend ; they chose another pope, and again asserted the for- 
mer principle, that a synod of the Church was superior to the pope, and 
that the former and not the latter was infallible. Upon this, Eugenius, 
encouraged by the fears, entertained both by princes and people, of 
another division in the Church, anathematized the refractory members 
of the council, and rejected their decisions; and for the purpose of over- 
coming more surely the opposition of the Germans, gained over the crafty 
Italian, ^Eneas Sylvius (afterwards Pius II.), who -was private secretary 
to the emperor Frederick III. By the aid of this shrewd man, who is 
also known as an author, the pope succeeded in winning over the weak 
emperor to the Aschatfenburg concordat, by means of which, the Church 
remained in its former state, and all the abuses and extoi-tions, with a 
few trifling exceptions, were continued. It was in vain that the patriot- 
ically-minded Gregory of Heimburg advocated the liberties of the 
Church and the rights of Germany with intelligence and eloquence ; 
abandoned by the emperor and most of the princes, the council, after a 
little hesitation, recognized Eugenius's successor, Nicholas V., as lawful 
pope, and then dissolved itself. In this way, the papacy came forth, for 
the second time, victorious from the fight, but less by the inherent power 
of truth than by unecclesiastical expedients. 



DECAY OF CHIVALRY AND CORRUPTCOX OF THE CHURCH. 175 



6. GERMANY UNDER FREDERICK III. AND MAXIMILIAN I. 

§ 267. When the male line of the house of Luxemburg expired with 
Albe-tn of Sigismond, his son-in-law, Albert II. of Austria, ascended 
Austria, A. D. the imperial throne of Germany, which from this time 
1437-1439. remained in possession of the Hapsburg- Austrian fomily. 
Albert was a well-disposed and energetic man ; but as Bohemia and 
Hungary engaged the whole of his exertions, he could effect nothing of 
importance during the short period of his government. His nephew, 
Frederick HI Frederick III., was his successor in the empire, a prince en- 
A. D. dowed with domestic virtues, but possessing slender talents 

1440 - l49o. ^^^. government, and who opposed nothing to the troubles of 
his lengthened reign but a dull and passive indifference. He looked 
quietly on while the Turks took possession of Constantinople, and carried 
their ravages into the hereditary territories of Austria, when Hungary 
and Bohemia elected native kings, when Charles the Bold of Burgundy 
extended his dominions to the banks of the Rhine (§ 293), when Milan 
and Lombardy were separated from the German empire (§ 261). In 
Germany, the imperial authority fell into utter contempt, the princes 
made themselves independent, and exercised the privilege of private 
Avarfare without hesitation. The Swabian alliance was engaged in a 
furious war with Albert (Achilles or Ulysses), the valiant margrave 
of the Brandenburg territories in Franconia (Bayreuth), a war in which 
nine battles were fought and 200 villages reduced to ashes. The neigh- 
borhood of the Rhine and the Neckar was desolated by the war of 
the Palatinate, during which, the palgrave, Frederick the 
Victorious, gained a glorious victory near Seckenheim, and 
made prisoners of his enemies, Ulrick of Wurtemburg, the margrave of 
Baden, and the bishop of Metz ; but was unable to prevent the deposi- 
tion of his ally, the banished archbishop. Dieter of Mayence, 
in whose defence he had taken up arms. 
§ 268. This state of disorder and self-redress increased the desire for 
a fresh constitution of the empire. But as the princes refused to sacrifice 
any of their real or pretended rights, every proposal that seemed likely to 
increase the power of the emperor, or diminish that of the princes, encoun- 
Maximilian I. tered a resolute opposition. At length, Maximilian I. agreed 
A. D. with the Electors, the secular and spiritual nobles, and the 

1493-1495. representatives of the free towns, at the imperial diet at 
Worms, to form a constitution which restrained the right of 

A D 1495 

private warfare, but completely undermined the authority of 
the emperor. At this diet, the eternal Land-peace Avas established, and 
every act of self-redress by arms forbidden, under pain of ban and out- 
lawry. An imperial chamber was at once established to compose all 
quarrels among the members of the empire, and a short time afterwards, 



176 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

the empire was divided into ten circles. 1. Tlie Austrian. 2. The Bava- 
rian. 3. The Swabian. 4. The Franconian. 5. The Rhenish Elec- 
torate. 6. The Upper Rhenish. 7. The Lower Rhenish Westphalian. 
8. Upper Saxony. 9. Lower Saxony; and 10. The Burgundiau. By 
this alteration, the power of the princes was raised to a still greater 
height, so that at last they could act in their own territories as absolute 
rulers. The Swiss confederates, who were at that time in alliance 
with France, refused to recognize the imperial chamber, and denied the 
contingent of troops. Hereupon, Maximilian attempted to compel them 
by foi'ce of ai-ms, but was worsted in the contest, and obliored 

A. D. 1499. . . ' o 

'to forego his demands in the peace of Basle, and to admit 
the independence of the Swiss of Germany. 

§ 2G9. Maximilian's reign forms the transition period between the 
middle age and the modern time. He himself, with his stately aspect, 
his bold and dangerous huntings, his valiant deeds in battle and tourna- 
ment, may well be looked upon as the " last knight " on the imperial 
throne of Germany ; his love of the decaying chivalrous poetry, his mar- 
riage with Mary of Burgundy, his Avars in the Netherlands and in Italy, 
are all stamped with the character of the middle age. On the other 
hand, it was at this time that the commencements of a more refined poli- 
tical science, and of a greater intercourse among nations, displayed them- 
selves, which, combined with new discoveries and inventions, brought 
about the modern period. 



VI. HISTORY OF THE REMAINING EUROPEAN NATIONS DURING 

THE MIDDLE AGE. 

1. FRANCE. 

«. FRANCE UNDER THE HOUSE OP CAPET. 

§ 270. The first successors of. Hugh Capet (§ 205) possessed but little 
power and a narrow territory. The dukes and counts of the different 
provinces looked upon the king, who, properly, Avas only lord of France, 
as their equal, and only allowed him the first rank among themselves, in 
so far as they were obliged to recognize him as their feudal superior. 
The nobles dared not weaken the rights that appertained to him in this 
capacity, lest they should afford an example of breach of faith to their own 
subjects, and encourage them to similar behavior towards themselves. For 
the rest, the possessions of the great vassals were independent counties 
and principalities, which had no closer connection with the French throne 
than the western territories on the Seine, Loire, and Garonne, which be- 
longed to the king of England ; or the eastern (Burgundian) lands on 



FRANCE. 177 

the Ehone and the Jura, which were portions of the German empire. 

But in the attempt to increase the kingly power, the house of Capet 

were not less aided by their good fcrtune than by their Avisdom. It was 

fortunate, that, owing to the lengthened lives of most of their kings, the 

throne was seldom vacant, that there was almost always a son of age to 

succeed his father, and that, consequently, there was never an interregnum. 

But it was wisdom in the first kings to have their eldest sons crowned 

during their lives, and to make them their partners in the government, 

so that, on the death of the father, little or no change was suffered. The 

Loui^ Yll ^'^^^ important kings after Hugh Capet were Louis VIL, 

A. D. Avho undertook the second crusade, and during his absence 

■ intrusted the government in France to the politic Abbot 

Au<nistus n. Suger of St. Denis ; Philip Augustus II., who wrested ISor- 

-^- D. mandy and the other territories in the west from the English 

1180-1223. kinor^ John Lackland; and Louis VIII., who enlarged his 

Louis \ III., T ''. . - , 1 1 • , ,1 A 11 • 

A. D. dommions on the south by the war agamst the Albigenses 

1223-1226. (§ 228). But the reigns which had the greatest influence 
bt.^ouis, upon the history of France were those of St. Louis and 
1226 - 1270. Philip the Fair. The former improved the laws, and caused 
the royal courts of justice to be looked upon as the highest in the land, 
and the disputes of the nobles among themselves or with their vassals 
to be brought before them for decision : the latter, on the other hand, 
PKJHp tko increased the conseauence of the towns by granting vnrinns 
Fair, A. d. privileges and liberties to the citizens, and by being the first 
1285 - 1314. who summoned the representatives of the towns to the diet 
during his contest with the pope. (§ 255). After the death of Philip's 
three sons, who reigned one after the other, but left no male 

A. D 1328. :> o 

heirs, the French throne passed to the house of Valois. 

h. FRANCE UNDER THE HOUSE OF VALOIS (a. D. 1328-1589). 

§ 271. Philip VL of Valois, brother's son of Philip the Fair, in- 
Philin \l herited the French throne. But Edward III. of England 
A. D. also asserted his claims, as son of a daughter of Philip 

1328 -I3i7. ^YiQ Fair. Without regard to the Salic law, which pro- 
hibited the succession of females, he assumed the title of king of 
France, and made war upon Phihp. After a bloody con- 
A. D. 13-16. ^^gj. ^^ ^ ^^^ yeai-s, the battle of Crecy was fought, in 

which the English were the victors, and the flower of the French chi- 
valry, together with John, the blind king of Bohemia, fell on the field. 
■ The possession of the important town of Calais was the fruit of the vic- 
John the *°'T- Philip died in the following year, and his son, John the 

Good, A. D. Good, succeeded to the contested crown. Eager to obliterate 
1347 - 1364. the memory of Crecy, he attacked the English army, which 
was under the command of Edward III.'s heroic son, the Black Prince, 



178 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

but suffered a decisive defeat at Poictiers, and was obliged to pro- 
ceed as a captive to the capital of England. Whilst he was absent, 

the kingdom was governed by the crown prince (Dauphin). 

During his rule, an insurrection broke out in Paris and over 
the whole land, which was attended with great devastations and outrages, 

until the imperfectly-armed citizens and peasants were sub- 

A D 1358 i. ^ ... 

dued by the French knights, and visited with severe punish- 
ment. Shortly after this, a peace was established between France and 

England, by which Calais and the south-west of France was 

surrendered to the English, and a heavy ransom promised 
for John, whilst Edward, on the other hand, renounced his pretensions 
to the Freiich throne. But when the collection of the ransom money was 

delayed, John voluntarily returned into captivity, and died 

A. D. 1364. . ^ 

ui L/ondon. 

Charles V., § 272. John's son, Charles V. (the Wise), healed the 

A. D. wounds of his country. He quieted men's minds by his good 

1364-1380. ^^^ gentle government, and by prudence and valor, reco- 
vered the lands that had been lost on the Loire and the Garonne ; so that, 

when the Black Prince fell a victim to a wasting disease, 
A. D. 1377. . . 

and Edward III. shortly after followed him into the gi-ave, 

nothing remained to the English of all their conquests but Calais. But 
under his successor, Charles VI., who became insane shortly after coming 
oimiico ^^. *^f o^S^t France again foil into a state of confusion and law- 
A. D. lessness. Two powerful court parties, headed by the uncle 

1380-1422. Qf iijg i-jj^g (\\^Q duke of Burgundy), and the king's brother 
(the duke of Orleans), contended for the government; whilst the burghers 
rebelled against the heavy imposts, and demanded an increase of their 
privileges. About the same time in which the towns were waging war 
against the knights in Germany (§ 261), the Swiss peasants were con- 
tending against the nobility, and a dangerous popular insurrection, under 
Wat Tyler and others, was making rapid progress in England, the citizen 
and peasant class rose against the court and the nobility in Flanders and 

France also. But want of union among the insurgents gave 
A D 1383 o o 

the latter the victory, and the outbreak was followed by a 

diminution of the privileges of the people. The Burgundian party 

favored the citizens, the Orleans party the nobility. 

§ 273. The chivalrous king, Henry V. of England, took advantage 

of these circumstances to renew the war with France. He demanded the 

former possessions back again ; and Avhen this was refused, he entered 

France by Calais, and renewed at Agincourt, on the Somme, 

the days of Crecy and Poictiers. The French army, four 

times the number of its opponents, was overthrown, and the flower of the 

French chivalry either fell in the field, or were taken prisoners by the 

enemy ; nothing stood between the victor and Paris, where party violence 



FEANCE. 179 

had just now attained its highest point, and murders and insurrections 
were matters of daily occurrence. The Orleans party joined the Dau- 
phin, whilst the Burgundian party, with the queen Isabella, united them- 
selves with the English, and acknoAvledged Henry V. and his descendants 
as the heirs of the French crown. The whole of the country to the north 

of the Loire was soon in the hands of the English. But 
A. D. 1422. . 

Henry V. was snatched away by death in the midst of his 

heroic course, in the same year in which the crazy Charles VI. sank into 

the grave, and the Dauphin took possession of the throne under the title 

Cha-lesVn of Charles VII. But this made little difference to France. 

A. D. The English and their allies proclaimed Henry VI., who was 

1422 - 1461. scarcely a year old, the rightful ruler of the country, and 

retained their superiority in the field, so that they already held Orleans 

in siege. 

§ 274. In this necessity, the Maid of Orleans, a peasant 

girl of Dom Remy in Lorraine, who gave out that she had 
been summoned to the redemption of France by a heavenly vision, 
aroused the sinking courage of Charles and his soldiers. Under her 
banner, the town of Orleans was delivered, the king conducted to Rheims 
to be crowned, and the greater part of their conquests wrested from the 
English. The faith in her heavenly mission inspired the French with 
courage and self-confidence, and filled the English with fear and despair. 

This effect remained after Joan of Arc had fallen into the 

A. D. 1431. 

hands of the latter, and had been given up to the flames on 
a pretended charge of blasphemy and sorcery. The English lost one 
province after another ; and when Philip the Good of Burgundy recon- 
A D 1435 ciled himself with the king, Calais soon became their last 

and only possession in the land of France. Paris opened 
A. D. 1436. j|.g gatgg jjji([ received Charles with acclamations. He reigned 
over France in peace for twenty-five years ; but he was a weak man, who 
suffered himself to be guided by women and favorites. He was followed 
Louis XI. ^y Louis XL, a crafty but politic prince, who, by cunning, 
A. D. violence, and unexampled tyranny, rendered the power of 

1461-1483. tijg throne absolute, and enlarged and consolidated his em- 
pire. He robbed the nobility of all their choicest privileges, and gradu- 
ally united all the great fiefs Avith the crown. He then, by the assistance 
of the Swiss (whose hardy youth he and his successor engaged as merce- 
naries), overthrew Charles the Bold, and made himself master of the 
Charles VEI., dukedom of Burgundy. The stings of conscience and the 
A. D. 1483 - fear of men tortured him in the lonely castles where he 

spent the last years of his life. His two successors, Charles 
A. D. 1493 - ""^III- ^^^ Louis XII., conquered Brittany, but dissipated 
1515. the strength of the kingdom in their expeditions to Italy. 



180 ' THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 



2. ENGLAND. 

Hem-y H § ^^^- ^^^i^h Henry II., of Anjou, the great-grandson of 

A. d/ 1151- William the Conqueror (§ 207), the renowned race of Plan- 
1189. tagenet ascended the English throne. They possessed much 

land on the Loire and the Garonne, and as Normandy also belonged to 
the English, the whole of the west of France Avas in the power of the 
kings of England. Many quarrels and battles arose from this state of 
things, for the kings of France laid claim to the rights of feudal suprema- 
cy over these western lands, which rights the English kings refused to 
render. Henry II., a contemporary of Frederick Barbarossa, was a 
powerful and intelligent regent, who acquired especial renown by his 
improvement in the administration of the laws. In furtherance of this 
object, he attempted, by the Constitutions of Clarendon, so to limit the 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, that the clergy should be subject to the royal 
tribunals in temporal matters, Avithout any appeal to the pope. Upon 
this point, Henry had a violent contest with the archbishop of Canterbury, 
Thomas a Becket. Becket rejected the Constitutions of Clarendon, and 
dismissed every priest that submitted to them ; and when he was threat- 
ened with legal proceedings, he quitted England and anathematized 
Henry. But an arrangement was brought about, for a short time, by the 
intervention of the pope. But scarcely was Becket returned to Canter- 
bury, when he resumed all his former severity against the clergy who 
received the Constitutions of Clarendon. The king, who was just then 
in arms against France, suffered an exclamation of discontent against 
Becket to escape him, which induced four of his servants to hasten to 
England, and to slaughter the archbishop on the steps of the 
altar. This sacrilegious deed occasioned universal horror. 



and procured the pope a complete triumph in England. The murderers 
were punished, the Constitutions of Clarendon abolished, and Thomas a 
Becket canonized. Thousands made pilgrimages to his altar ; and the 
king, a few years afterwards, gave a memorable example of his peni- 
tence, by suffering the monks to scourge his bare shoulders at the grave 
of the martyr. 

§ 27G. Two of Henry's sons survived their father; Richard Lionheart 
Richard Lion- (§ 228), and John Lackland. Much as the former distin- 
heart, A. d. guished himself by his courage and chivalrous daring, his 
■^ ■ reign was not advantageous to England. The latter was 
John Lack- worsted in every contest in which he engaged. In the first 
Umcl, A. D. place, he lost Normandy, and all the hereditary possessions 
1199 - 1210. ^^ i^jg house on the Loire and the Garonne, to the shrewd 
and enterprising Philip Augustus of France; and when he got involved 



ENGLAND. 181 

in a quarrel "with the pope, about the appointment to the chair of the 
archbishopric of Canterbury, in consequence of which the holy father 
pronounced an anathema and interdict upon England, released his sub- 
jects from their oath of allegiance, and summoned the king of France to 
take possession of the land, John humbled himself, surrendered the 
throne of England by a solemn act to the pope, and received it back 
again from the hands of the legate as a papal fief, in return for a yearly 
tribute of 1000 marks. John was now released from the interdict, and 
the French king forbidden to prosecute the expedition against him. En- 
raged at this disgraceful transaction of a king, who, by his severity, arbi- 
trariness, and cruelty, had embittered every class against himself, the 
nobles of England seized their arms and compelled John, by 
the grant of the great charter (Magna Charta), in a meadow 
near Windsor (Runnymede), to lay the foundation of the free constitution 
Henry HI., of England. The long reign of John's son, Henry III., was 
A. D. 1216 - favorable to the growth of liberty, melancholy as, on the 
■^^'^* whole, the condition of the land under him was. His ex- 

travagant profuseness to favorites, and the exactions of the papal legates 
and the Italian clergy, inflicted grievous wounds on the prosperity of the 
country, and at length drove the people to rebel and seize upon the king 
and his family, till the abuses were removed, and fi-esh liberties granted. 
§ 277. Henry III. was succeeded by his chivalrous son, Edward I., 
Edward I. whose reign is rendered memorable by a succession of 
A. D. 1272 - bloody wars. He added the hitherto independent Wales to 
•^^^^* his dominions, introduced there the laws and constitution 

of England, and was the first who gave the title of Prince of Wales to 
the heir to the throne. Upon a quarrel for the crown break- 

A T) 128S 

ing out shortly after in Scotland, between Robert Bruce and 
John Baliol, in which he was chosen umpire, Edward took advantage of 
the opportunity to establish the much contested feudal superiority of the 
English kings over Scotland, and decided in favor of Baliol, who was 
ready to do him homage. This irritated the Scotch, who were proud of 
their independence. They seized the sword, and under the conduct of 
heroic knights like Wallace, fought many battles for their liberties which 
are renowned in song and legend. Furious contests drenched the j)lains 
of the south of Scotland with the blood of hei'oes ; Wallace died as a 
prisoner by the axe of the executioner. The coronation stone of the 
Scottish kings at Scone was brought to London, where it still orna- 
ments Westminster Abbey ; Edward's victorious host marched through 
the whole of Scotland as far as the Highlands, and yet the Scots still 
maintained their independence. Robert Bruce, the grandson of the 
before-mentioned candidate for the throne, after many changes of for- 
tune, obtained possession of the crown, which became hereditary in his 
family, and passed at length to the related house of Stuart. 

16 



182 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Edward's son of the same name was a weak prince, who could neither 
Edward II. i^^^ke conquests abroad, nor preserve peace and order at 
A. 0.1307- home. The nobles repeatedly took up arms against him, 
1327. killed his favorites, and at last looked quietly on, whilst the 

queen and her paramoui-, Mortimer, thrust the unfortunate monarch from 
the throne, and had him put to a cruel death in prison. But when his 
Edward m energetic son, Edward III., came of age, he punished the 
A. D. 1327- atrocious deed by executing Mortimer, and banishing the 
1"'' ''• queen to a solitary fortress. 

§ 278. Edward III. governed with vigor and renown. He took mea- 
sures for checking the enci*oachments of the pope upon the English 
Church, in which he was actively supported by the Oxford professor, 
Wicliff, and granted to many towns the privilege of sending represent- 
atives to parliament, as his predecessors had before done. By this means, 
the number of representatives increased to such an extent that they were 
divided, and from this time, the nobles and bishops formed the Upper 
House (House of Peers), and the members for the towns, the Lower 
House (House of Commons), of Parliament. No tax could be imposed 
without their consent. The wars of succession which Edward III. and 
his son, the Black Prince, waged with France, were to the advantage of 
the English (§ 271). But the government of his grandson and successor, 
Eichard II Richard II., was disturbed by domestic troubles ; a danger- 
A. D. 1377- ous insurrection of the people was only suppressed with 
1399. difficulty by the ready courage of the king ; and when Rich- 

ard at length banished his cousin, Henry of Lancaster, who was the 
originator of the disturbances, from the kingdom, Henry formed a party, 
had the king deposed from the throne by an act of parliament, and then 
House of assumed himself the royal title. Eichard died of starvation 
Lancaster. in a remote castle, whilst Henry IV., in whose person the 
Henry IV., house of Lancaster ascended the English throne, was secur- 
A. D. 1399 - ing to himself and his posterity, by his prudence and valor, 
^'^^^' the crown he had so ilagitiously obtained. An insurrection 

of the English nobles under the duke of Northuniberland and his heroic 
son Percy, surnamed Hotspur, ended with the defeat of the insurgents. 
The followers of Wicliff, called Lollai'ds, were persecuted for the sake of 
propitiating the clergy in favor of the royal house. Henry IV. was suc- 
Henrv V ceeded by his more valiant son, Henry V., whose youthful 
A. D. 1413- follies, as well as his nobleness of soul and heroic greatness, 
1422. have been portrayed in so masterly a way by the great 

British poet, Shakspeare. He conducted successful wars with France, 
but all that he gained by his fortune and courage was again lost in the 
reign of his infant son, Henry VI. 

§ 279. This sixth Henry was the most unfortunate prince that ever 
eat on a throne. The crown of France, which he had received when 



SPAIN. 183 

a child of one year old (§ 274), was wrested from bim by the Maid of 
Henrv\T: Orleans, and be was deprived of bis Englisb possessions, 
A. D. 1422 - also, by tbe wars of tbe Red and tbe Wbite Roses. Ricbard, 
1461. duke of York, great-grandson of king Edward III., deemed 

that he had better pretensions to the crown of England than Henry VI. 
He formed a powerful party, unfurled tbe banner of rebellion, and com- 
menced tbe bloody civil war which, from tbe cognizance borne by tbe 
chiefs of tbe parties, was called the War of the Red (Lancaster) and 
White (York) Rose. It is true that Richard was defeated in a furious 
battle by the forces of the queen, who ornamented his head with a paper 
House of crown, and placed it upon tbe battlements of York. But 
York. Richard's eldest son, the chivalrous Edward, revenged the 

Edward IV., insults offered to his father. He got possession of the throne, 
A. D. 1461 - and, despite the many changes of fortune he met with during 

his reign, he finally maintained himself upon it, after Henry 
of Lancaster, who had four times exchanged tbe crown for a prison, had 
ended his miserable existence in the Tower, and bis son had been put to 
death. But the blood-stained throne brought no blessing to the house of 
York. Edward first got rid of his brother Clarence by assassination; 
and when he himself died, leaving behind him two infant princes, his 
R'chardin younger brother, Ricbard (III.), had these put to death in 
A. D. 1483- the Tower, and took possession of tbe throne, upon which he 
1485. in yain hoped to secure himself by fresh crimes. Henry 

Tudor, a descendant of tbe royal house of Lancaster, who had saved him- 
self from the general ruin of his family by flying to France, landed on 
A D 1485 ^^® coast of England, and won crown and victory in tbe field 

of Bosworth, where Richard was slain. Upon this, Henry 
Tudor VII., Avitb whom the bouse of Tudor rose to tbe throne, 

Henry \TI brought about a reconciliation between tbe Roses by marry- 
A. D. 1485- ing tbe daughter of Edward IV. Tbe history of the world 
1509. scarcely relates another war in which so many atrocities 

were committed as in the contest between the Red and tbe White Rose. 
Eighty members of royal families, and the ornaments of the nobility, fell 
by tbe sword. Owing to this, the politic and hard-hearted Henry VII. 
could give greater power to tbe crown than it had possessed under the 
Plantasenets. 



D^ 



3. SPAIN. 

§ 280. For several centuries, the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile 
(§ 194) stood side by side in separate independence. The former at- 
tempted to extend itself towards the east, and gained possession, not only 
Alfonso V. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ lands of Catalonia, Valentia, and Murcia, and the 
A. D. 1416— Spanish islands, Majorca and Minorca, but subjected, at ditfer- 
li56. ent times, Sardinia and Sicily, and in tbe reign of Alfonso V., 



184 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

even conquered Naples. Castile, on the other hand, enlarged itself on 
the south, and by successful wars against the Moors, gained possession of 
Cordova, Seville, and Cadiz. These contests had the greatest influence 
on the history and character of the Spanish nation. First, They produced 
a love of war and a chivalrous turn of mind, and were the occasion that 
the Spanish nation took delight in contests and arms, in tournaments and 
knightly exercises, and in romantic poetry and minstrelsy. Secondly, 
They preserved the zeal for religion, and were the foundation of that pre- 
dominance of the clergy which has always been a characteristic of Spain. 
Thirdly, They aroused a feeling of liberty and self-reliance among the 
people, — hence the Spanish Estates, which assembled regularly in the 
Cortes, and claimed and exercised privileges which were to be met with 
in no other monarchy. The Estates of Aragon not only possessed the 
right of legislating and of consenting to the levying of taxes, but the king 
was obliged to consult them in the choice of his council. Quari-els 
between the Estates and the king were decided by an independent chief 
justice (Justitia). 

§ 281. The chivalrous Peter III., the conqueror of Sicily (§ 240), is 
the best known of the Aragonian kings, and Alfonso X., the "Wise, of the 
Alfonso X., Castilian. The latter occupied himself with astronomy and 
A. D. 1252- astrology, with music and poetry, enlarged the university 

of Salamanca, encouraged the development of the national 
language, and had works prepared on history and jurisprudence ; but he 
was wanting in the practical wisdom of life. To gain the shadow of the 
imperial Roman throne, and to gratify his taste for magnificence and 
pleasure, he oppressed his people with taxes, and plunged his land into 
confusion by extravagance, and by debasing the coinage. Alfonso XI. 
Alfonso XI., overcame the Moors on the river Salado, and took the strong 
A. D. 1324 - town, Algeciras, in Andalusia. To defray the expenses of 

the war, the Estates introduced the tax, alcavala, which was 
A. D. 1340. levied upon all movable and immovable property as often 
as it was sold or exchanged, and which proved extremely detrimental to 
trade and commei'ce. This impost has continued to exist in Spain ever 
Peter the since. Alfonso's SOU, Peter the Cruel, outraged his wives, 
Crael, A. D. his brothers and relatives, the nobles and the people, so long, 
1350 - 1369. that at length his half-brother, with the assistance of some 
French troops, overcame and killed him, and then assumed his place. 
Isabella, The marriage of queen Isabella of Castile, with Ferdinand 

A. D. 1474- ^i^Q Catholic of Aragon, led to the union of the two king- 
Ferdinand doms, and consequently to a new epoch for Spain, towards 
A. D. 1479- the conclusion of the fifteenth century. 

1516. § 282. Ferdinand and Isabella, directed by the counsels 

of the shrewd cardinal Ximenes, strove for a common object ; — they 
sought to diminish the power of the nobility and clergy, and exalt that 



SPAi^r. 185 

of the crown. For this purpose, Ferdinand obtained from the pope the 
grand mastership of the three wealthy orders of Castilian knights, and 
the privilege of filling up the Spanish bishoprics. He next deprived the 
nobility of the administration of justice, that he might transfer it to the 
royal courts, and established the armed Herniandad (police), to preserve 
the peace of the land, and to abolish robbery and private warfare. But 
the most important means of raising the power of the throne was the 
court of Inquisition, in which the king had the appointment of the grand 
inquisitor and all the judges. This royal court of faith, provided with 
spiritual weapons, was not only the terror of heretics and secret Moiiam- 
medans and Jews, but held the nobility and clergy in awe, and imposed 
heavy chains upon the free activity of the mind. The slightest suspi- 
cion, the false testimony of an enemy, might lead to the frightful dun- 
geons of the Inquisition, where the most dreadful tortures of the rack 
were employed to force a confession of guilt, and wiles, equivocations, 
and insnaring questions were made use of to entrap the resolute. Num- 
berless victims were given up to the flames in the midst of pomp and 
magnificence (auto de fe), or pined away their lives in mouldering dun- 
geons, whilst the treasury of the state was enriched with their property. 
Never were the throne and altar united in a bond so dangerous to the 
liberties of the people, as in Spain since the establishment of the Inquisition. 
§ 283. The banishment of the Moors is one of the most melancholy 
phenomena in Spanish history. When the Moorish kingdom of Grana- 
da, after a war of ten years, fell before the arms of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, the Mohammedans were allowed no altei'native but to leave their 
country or embrace Christianity ; hereupon, many of them quitted their 
native land, others, with inward repugnance, adopted the doctrines of the 
Gospel, but were driven, by the cruelty of the Inquisition and the op- 
pression of the government, to repeated rebellions, by which their condi- 
tion was always rendei'ed worse than before. But their lot was most de- 
plorable under the fanatical Philip II. and his successor of the same 
name. A command was first given that they should renounce their lan- 
guage, their national dress, and their peculiar customs ; and as if even 
this tyrannical order were not suflicient to destroy the last traces of their 
Arabian origin and their foreign faith, they were mercilessly driven 
away from the Spanish territory. 800,000 Moors, men and women, old 
men and children, left the land of their birth, their blooming fields, and 
the houses their own hands had built. The flourishing plains of the 
south soon became a desert, agriculture decayed, and trade stagnated ; 
prosperous villages were reduced to ruins, towns once animated by com- 
merce became depopulated, poverty, dirt, and sloth, took possession of the 
once rich and happy country, the departed splendor of which is still 
attested by magnificent ruins. A similar fate attended the Jews ; priests 
and courtiers divided the possessions and treasures of the banished. 

16* 



186 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

The destruction of the privileges of the Estates and of the liberties 
of the people, were also consequences of this mischievous union between 
the crown and the altar. 

4. ITALY. 

t 

a. UPPER ITALY. 

§ 284. In Upper Italy, the two republics of Venice and Genoa raised 
themselves by their trade and navigation, to a prosperity that recals the 
memory of the most flourishing period of ancient Greece. Venice 
directed her view to the Adriatic and ^gean seas, and sought to make^ 
conquests on their coasts for the purpose of obtaining suitable havens, 
marts, and magazines ; as those in Dalmatia, Greece, the Archipelago, 
Constantinople, and many other places. This remarkable city, which 
had originated from the union of several islands, became rich and power- 
ful by her oriental traffic. Magnificent churches (the cathedral of St. 
Mark), gorgeous palaces (that of the doge), splendid squares (the place 
of St. Mark), boldly constructed bridges (tliat of the Rialto), made 
Venice a wonder of the world. But magnificence, wealth, and pleasures, 
could not make amends for the want of freedom. The original demo- 
cratic constitution was changed, during the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies, into an oppressive hereditary aristocracy. An elected doge, with 
limited author>*:y, stood at the head of the state ; but the whole power 
rested in the high council, to which only a limited number of noble fami- 
lies (nobili), whose names were written in the golden book, had admis- 
sion. For the purpose of preventing any alteration in the constitution 
of the state, a council of ten persons were furnished with dictatorial 
power, and provided with a state police of spies and informers, and a 
state Inquisition with subterraneous dungeons, racks, and leaden roofs. 
Every motion was watched, every word listened to, every movement of 
the people observed. 

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Venice attempted to extend 
her rule on the Italian continent, and obtained possession, by the help of 
skilful generals, of Verona, Padua, Brescia, and many other cities and 
territories of Upper Italy. By this means, however, she came into hos- 
tile contact with other European states, and was not unfrequently threat- 
ened with destruction, particularly in the beginning of the 
sixteenth century, by the league of Cambray, in which, the 
emperor Maximilian, Louis XII. of France, Ferdinand the Catholic of 
Aragon, and pope Julius II., united together for the purpose of dividing 
the Venetian territory. The French were already threatening the wealthy 
city, when the Venetian council succeeded in dividing the league, and 
gaining over the pope and Ferdinand. In this manner, Venice was 
saved, and the French driven out of Italy. But the wounds which 
Venice received in her eastern possessions by the establishment of the 



' ITALY. 187 

Ottoman empire, and in her trade by the discovery of a sea passage to 
the East Indies, were incurable. Since then, the allegorical marriage of 
the doge with the Adriatic in the state vessel, the Bucentaur, has been a 
ceremony without a meaning. 

§ 285. Genoa was the proud rival of Venice. The mutual jealousy of 

the two republics respecting the trade with the East was the occasion of 

many wars and many bloody naval engagements, in which, however, Venice 

was generally the victor. Genoa's splendid marble palaces, her havens 

covered with a forest of masts, and her exchange, bore witness to her 

wealth. But quarrels between democrats and aristocrats, between Guelfs 

(Fieschi and Grimaldi) and Ghibellines (Spinola and Doria), weakened 

her internal strength. Incapable of govei-ning herself, she sought for 

foreign rulers, till at length she fell alternately under the power of the 

French and Milanese. The excellent constitution which the 

naval hero, Andreas Doria, planned in the sixteenth century 

for his native city, after he had overthrown the French government 

there, and brought back the republican forms, restored the state to its 

outward independence, but by no means to its internal tranquillity. 

Twenty years later, the handsome, rich, and accomplished 

Fiesco attempted to deprive the house of Doria of the office 

of doge ; but the enterprise was frustrated by the unexpected death of 

the daring conspirator. -^ 

§ 28G. Milan came gradually under the government of the wealthy 
family of Visconti, who obtained the ducal title from the emperor, and 
conquered the greater part of Lombardy by the aid of condottieri and 
mercenary troops. When the male line of the Visconti became extinct 
in the middle of the fifteenth century, the Milanese trans- 
ferred the sovereignty of their beautiful land, which was 
aimed at both by the French and Spaniards, to Francisco Sforza, the 
^ most able of these condottieri. The conquest of the country 

by Louis XII. of France was facilitated by quarrels in 
vSforza's family. Louis carried away the duke (Louis Moro) prisoner, 
and suffered him to pine for ten years in a subterranean dungeon. The 
French were indeed di'iven out of Italy a few years later, and the son 
of the captive Moro raised to the dukedom of Milan ; but the first war- 
like action of the chivalrous Francis I. was the ''battle of 

A. D. 1515. • , n 

giants ' of Marignano, in which the duke and his Swiss were 
defeated, and Milan again joined to the French kingdom. Ten years 
afterwards, the dukedom fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who 
remained in possession of it for nearly two hundred years. 

§ 287. The western states of Upper Italy fell, for the most part, under 
the power of the counts of Savoy, who, by prudence, good fortune, and 
force of arms, gradually enlarged their originally narrow territory to a 
dukedom, which extended northward over the south of Switzerland to 



188 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

Jura (Geneva, Vaud, Valois), and included on the south, Piedmont, with 
Turin, the county of Nice, and other territories. But when the warlike 
Swiss confederates on the north, and on the west, France, which was 
now united into a powerful kingdom, became the neighbors of Savoy's 
frontiers, its circumference began gradually to lessen. The Valois was 
lost in the Burgundian war (§ 293), Geneva freed itself during the con- 
tests of the Eeformation, and in the wars which Francis I. carried on with 
Charles V., for the possession of Milan, duke Charles III. of Savoy, the 
ally of the latter, lost the greater part of his hereditary estates, which 
his son again received, with some loss, at the peace of Cam- 
bresis. But his successors, by taking advantage of favorable 
opportunities, amply repaid themselves for their losses by conquests in 
other quartei's (Sardinia, Genoa), and at length obtained possession of the 
kingly power. 

h. MIDDLE AND LOWER ITALY. 

§ 288. The trading town of Pisa Avas the first to flourish in Tuscany. 
When this city had fallen before the army of the Genoese, Florence 
raised itself above the other towns, and at length reduced Pisa itself to 
subjection. Florence was at first governed by the nobility ; but when 
this class had been weakened by the party contentions of the Guelfs 
(Black) and Ghibellines (White), the government was obtained by the 
people, who were divided into guilds, and who consisted, for the most part, 
of masters of manufactories and workers in wool. But scarcely M^as a 
complete democracy established in Florence, when a new quarrel for 
supremacy sprang up between the rich merchants and the poorer artisans, 
the result of which was, that the state was governed alternately by a 
money aristocracy and by the democratic guilds. Love of freedom, 
patriotism, and refinement were developed in the midst of these contests, 
so that Florence might be compared to the ancient Athens. At length, 
the wealthy family of the Medici succeeded in so completely winning to 
themselves the affections of the poor by their kindness and benevolence, 
Cosmo de ^"'^ those of the illustrious by their friendly affability, that 
Medici, A. d. Cosmo de Medici, a man of lofty mind and patriotic spirit, 
1428-1464. -without assuming either rank or title, governed the Floren- 
tine state with almost unlimited power, and rendered it flourishing 
and powerful by successful wars abroad, and by encouragement of the 
arts and sciences at home. To him belongs by right the surname of 
" Father of his Country." 

Lorenzo the § ^^^' Cosmo's grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, trod 

Magnificent, in the path of his ancestors, and rendered Florence the seat 
1472-1492. Qf every art and science, and a seminary for all Europe. 
His court was ornamented with artists, poets, and writers ; learned men 
from Byzantium, who were flying from the sword of the Turks, taught 



ITALY. , 189 

the Greek language and literature in Florence. Under his rule, the 
arts of sculpture, painting, and music began to unfold their choicest 
blossoms. After Lorenzo's death, the animated discourses of the Domi- 
nican, Savonarola, induced the Florentines to drive out the Medici, and 
to restore the democratic republic. But when the pope excommunicated 
the bold " prophet of Florence," and the priests, against whose wealth 
and luxurious lives his zeal had been chiefly directed, rose against him, 
his enemies succeeded in effecting his overthrow ; upon which, he was 
condemned to be burnt as a disturber of the Church and a coi-rupter of 
the peo23le. The Medici soon returned ; and when a demo- 
cratic spirit, after some time, again awoke, and a second ban- 
ishment followed, the emperor, Charles V., having an understanding with 
the Medician pope, Clement VII., marched upon Floi-ence, compelled it to 
surrender after a close siese, and placed the cruel Alexander 

A. D. 1530. 

' de Medici as duke over the humbled republic. Alexander, 
after many years' tyranny, was killed by the people, but the government, 
nevertheless, remained in the hands of the Medici. Among the many 
Michael artists and writers that lived about this time in Florence, 

Aiigelo, A. D. Michael Angelo, who was equally distinguished as an archi- 
1474—1563. iQQi^ sculptor, and painter; and the clever statesman, Mac- 
Macchiavclli, cliiavelli, author of " The Prince," the " History of Flo- 
A. D. io27. rence," and " Discourses on Titus Livius," are the most 
distinguished names. 

§ 290. During the residence of the popes in Avignon (§ 255), violence 
and lawlessness, occasioned by the bloody family quarrels of the Colonna 
and Orsini, had reigned in the ecclesiastical state of Rome. This inspired 
Cola di Rienzi, a man filled with enthusiasm for ancient Rome, with the 
project of bringing back peace and the ancient greatness to the state by 
the restoration of the republican constitution. His fiery eloquence trans- 
ported the Romans. They established a new republican 
Rome, raised the popular orator to the office of tribune, and 
drove the nobles from their walls. But Rienzi's splendid pai't was soon 
played out. Pride and vanity blinded him ; oppressive taxes deprived 
him of the favor of the people ; so that his enemies succeeded in procur- 
ing his overthrow, and compelled him to fly. He returned, indeed, a few 
years after, but it was only to meet with his death in a jiopu- 
lar commotion. After arranging the division in the Church 
(§ 263), a few distinguished popes made an attempt to heal the wounds 
of the state and the Church. Among these, may be particularly men- 
A. D. tioned Nicholas V., the founder of the Vatican library, and 

1450-1460. Pius IL (^neas Silvius, § 26G), known as a clever and ver- 
satile writer, — both of them patrons of cultivation and science. On 
the other hand, Alexander VL (Borgia) was the scandal of all Chris- 
tendom by his abandoned life, and his family (Ctesar and Lucretia Bor- 



190 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

gia, in particular) were guilty of frightful crimes. Alexander's successor, 
Julius IL, possessed a magnanimous disposition, but his pas- 
sion for war suited ill with his spiritual office. He marched 
into the field himself, and enlarged the possessions of the Church by the 
addition of Bologna, Ancona, Ferrara, and other towns and territories. 
Leo X., the highly accomplished son of Lorenzo de Medici, united in 
the Vatican all the splendor of art and refinement as an inhei-itance of 
his house. But in studying the productions of Greek and Roman pagan- 
ism, he lost siirht of the doctrine of the Church and of reverence for the 
Gospel ; yet he taxed the religious faith of the people by the sale of 
p , , indulgences, that he might be able to support the expense of 

A. r>. building the magnificent church of St, Peter, and to reward 

1483 - 1520. artists with a liberal hand. The " divine " painter, Raphael, 
was the ornament of his court. 

In Ferrara, during the fifteenth century, reigned the younger branch 
of the house of Este, which was not less distinguished for refinement 
and encouragement of the arts and sciences than the Medici. Ariosto, 
the writer of " Orlando Furioso," and Torquato Tasso, the poet of" Jeru- 
salem Delivered," were the ornaments of the ducal court of Ferrara. 

§ 291. The descendants of Charles of Anjou reigned in Naples, which, 
since the fall of the house of Hohenstaufen (§ 239, 240), had become a 
papal fief. The Guelfic party found in them as zealous defenders, as the 
Ghibelline in the kings of Sicily of the princely house of Aragon. Two 
wicked queens, Joanna I. and Joanna IL, filled the kingdom 
A D. 1343 - ""'^^^ ^^^^ ^^ cruelty, war, and confusion. The latter, before 
1382. her childless departure, named, first, an Aragonian, and after- 

Joanna H., wards a French prince, for her heir, and by this means pro- 
A. T>. 1414— duced two parties, a French and an Aragonian, that con- 
^'^^^' tended till tlie end of the fifteenth century, with great bitter- 

ness and various success, for the possession of Naples, till Frederick the 
Catholic of Aragon at length gained possession of it by craft 
and the success of his arms, and again united it with Sicily. 
The kingdom of Naples and Sicily remained subject to the Spanish 
sceptre for two hundred years, and was governed by a vice-king. In- 
crease of taxation, and the destruction of the privileges of the Estates, 
gradually produced poverty and loss of freedom. 

5. THE NEW 3URGUNDIAN TERRITORY. 

p, ... ,, § 292. Philip the Bold had received the dukedom of Bur- 
Bold, A. D. gundy from his fathei-, king John of France, in fief. He 
1363-1404. united to this, by inheritance and marriage, the Burgundian 
John sans Franche Comte, formerly an appanage of the German em- 
Peur, A. D. pire, and the rich lands of Flanders, together with Artois, 
1404-1419. Mechlin, Antwerp, and some other towns. His son, John 



BURGUNDY. 191 

sans Peur, and Ws grandson, Philip the Good, extended their possessions 
Phili the ^^^^^ farther over the other states of the Netherlands, and 
Good, A. D. established a kingdom that, in civilization, industry, and pros- 
1419-1467. perity, could vie with Italy. Philip the Good was one of the 
most powerful and richest princes of his time, and his Netherland chivalry 
were distinguished by their splendor, adroitness, and polished manners. 
The wealthy trading and manufactui-ing towns of Ghent, Brussels, Ant- 
werp, Bruges, Louvain, &c., possessed great privileges and liberties, and 
a warlike militia. 

§ 293. Philip's son, Charles the Bold, enlarged the dukedom and raised 
Charles the *^^^ splendor of the chivah'ous court to the highest point. 
Bold, A. D. He was a man of vigor, courage, and warlike spirit ; but 
1467—1477. ambition and violent passions rendered him rash, insolent, 
and obstinate. His efforts were directed to the enlargement of his duke- 
dom into a Gallo-Burgundian kingdom, with the Khine for its eastern 
boundary. But his undertakings were frustrated by the crafty and faith- 
less Louis XI. of France. For when Charles the Bold threatened the 
duke of Lorraine (whose lands and chief city, Nancy, he was longing 
for), with war, Louis brought about an alliance between Lorraine and 
the Swiss. Hereupon, Charles, with a stately and splendidly equipped 
army, marched aci'oss the Jura against the Swiss, but suifered such a 
defeat in the battle of Granson, that the survivors were dis- 
persed in disorderly flight ; and the admirable artillery, 
together with a magnificent camp, filled with costly stuflfs, gold, silver, 
and precious stones, fell into the hands of an enemy who did not know 
their value. Maddened by this disgrace, Charles, a few months after- 
wards, marched with a fresh array against the confederates. But the 
battle of Murten ended in the same way : the victors were again enriched 
with an enormous booty ; Berne wrested the Valais from the royal house 
of Savoy, which was in alliance with Bui'gundy, and the duke of Lor- 
raine again gained possession of his lands, which had been seized upon 
by Charles. Misfortune confused the mind of the Burgundian duke : 
blind with rage, and meditating nothing but vengeance, he rejected every 
proposal of accommodation, and marched for the third time against the 
enemy, who were prepared for the encounter. But in January, 1477, 
his army suffered a third frightful overthrow in the frozen fields before 
Nancy, partly by the swords of the brave Swiss, Alsacians, and Lor- 
rainers, and partly by the treachery of his Italian condottieri. Chai'les 
himself was killed in a frozen morass during the flight. 

§ 294. After the death of Charles, Louis XL seized upon the proper 
dukedom of Burgundy (Bourgogne), as a vacant fief of the French 
crown, and attempted to get possession of the other lands. At this junc- 
^ ture, Charles's daughter, Mary, was married to the chival- 

rous Maximilian of Austria, who overcame the French, 



192 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

and compelled them to relinquish their purpose. Mary died shortly after- • 
Avards by a fall from her horse, whilst hawking. The French king again 
renewed his treacherous intrigues for the purpose of exciting the towns 
of the Netherlands against Maximilian, who had been appointed guard- 
ian of his infant son, Philip of Burgundy. Ghent fell off; the guilds of 
Bruges kept him for some time a prisoner ; Brabant wavered ; but never- 
theless, Maximilian, by his courage and conduct, brought the whole of 
the Netherlands to acknowledge his rights of guardianship. Philip's 
son, Charles (V.), who was born to him by the Spanish Joanna, and who 
was born in the beginning of the century at Ghent, inheri- 
ted all the lands of his parents and grandparents. Yet his 
heart was with the rich, cultivated, and industi'ious Netherlands, which 
he had united into a whole hj the acquisition of Utrecht, Gueldres, and 
some other towns, and added to the German empire, under the title of 
the Bur^-undian Circle. 



o 



6. SCANDINAVIA. 

§ 295. After the daring sea expeditions and wanderings of the Nor- 
mans and Danes (§ 204, 206) had ceased, an enterprising prince was 
here and there successful in raising himself above the other heads of 
tribes (fylken kings), and in founding a kingdom by uniting several 
tribes (fylken) together. This was effected in Norway by Harald Fair- 
\ D 875 ^^^^' ' ^^ Denmark, by Gorm the Old ; and in Sweden, by 

the Ynglians. But it was with reluctance that the warlike 
Norman chiefs bowed beneath the authority of a supreme 
king, and many of the discontented renewed the expeditions by sea, and 
sought for a new home abroad. Thus, Rollo (Robert) in Normandy 
(§ 205). The contests of the kings with the chiefs of the tribes lasted 
for many centuries, and impeded the rapid and effectual introduction of 
Christianity into the Scandinavian kingdoms. For although the Gospel 
had been preached in the three kingdoms as early as the ninth century, 
by Ansgar, the " Apostle of the North," and single kings, as Harald 
Bluetooth in Denmark, and Olaf Skotkonung in Sweden, had been con- 
verted to it as early as the tenth century, yet the pagan worship of Odin 
still wrestled with Christianity for the mastership, for more than a hun- 
dred years. In Denmark, Harald's grandson, Canute the 
Great (§ 207), and in Norway, Olaf the Saint, gave the vic- 
tory to the docti'ine of a crucified Saviour ; but this did not take place in 
Sweden till the middle of the twelfth century, in the reign of Eric the 
Pious, and not till even later than this among the half-savage Fins. 
Christianity produced the most beneficial effects in the Scandinavian 
kingdoms. The Benedictine monks not only laid the germ of sj^iritual 
development, but they also improved the manner of living, and made the 
people acquainted with the advantages of civilization. They introduced 



SCANDINAVIA. 193 

the art of writing, and banished the rude and defective Runic characters 
by tlie Latin alphabet ; they encouraged agriculture and planted new 
kinds of corn ; they built mills, opened mines, and accustomed the war- 
like people to the arts of peace, to trade and agriculture. Christianity 
diminished the vast gulf that had hitherto existed between freemen and 
slaves, by awakening in every breast the sentiments of the dignity of 
human nature, and the equality of all men in the sight of God. In a 
word, the clergy obtained great wealth, privileges, and possessions, so 
that they could place themselves on terms of equality by the side of the 
freeholders of land. But the peasant class, on the other hand, remained 
in a state of dependence, and the towns arrived at neither prosperity nor 
importance. 

§ 29G. Denmark, to which Norway was united, acquired a great extent 
Waldemar 11., ^^ the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under a few warlike 
A. D. 1202- kings. Waldemar II., the Conqueror, prosecuted the con- 
quests of his father and grandfather on the coasts of the Baltic 
with such success, that he at last united all the Slavic lands on the 
south and east coasts of the Baltic, from Holstein to Esthonia, — Lauen- 
burg, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, a part of Prussia, the coast land of 
Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia, with his other possessions, and could 
call himself king of the Danes and Slavi, and lord of Nordalbingia 
(Sleswick-Holstein). But his severity engendered hate and bitterness; 
so that when, whilst engaged in the chase, he fell into the power of count 
Henry of Schwerin, whom he had deeply injured, and was kept prisoner 
by him for more than two years in the strong castle of Dan- 

A. D. 1227. . 

neberg ; the princes who were his vassals revolted from him 
and maintained their independence with the sword ; so that, in a short 
time, the proud fabric of Waldemar fell to the ground. Hamburg and 
LiJbeck became free imperial towns ; the peasant repubhc of the Ditan- 
arsens regained its independence, and the German provinces returned to 
the government of the emperor. Aft.er Waldemar II.'s death, there oc- 
curred a time of internal confusion, which was taken advantage of by 
the aristocracy of nobles to increase their privileges. In addition to 
Waldemar m., their freedom from taxes, the holders of land now obtained a 
A. D. 1340- jurisdiction peculiar to themselves. Waldemar HI. again 
1375. governed with a firm hand : his daughter, Margareta, united 

A. D. 1397. the three Scandinavian kingdoms under one sceptre, by the 

Union of Calmar. 
§ 297. In Sweden also, the power of the kings had been much dimin- 
ished, and that of the chivalrous nobility increased, by the protracted 
contests for the crown. Even the powerful family of the Folkungs, 
which had ascended the throne about the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, succumbed in a few generations to the strokes of fate which smote 
all the princely houses of Sweden. Of the seven kings of this royal 

17 



194 THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

house, five were dethroned, and died cither in prison or banishment. 
After the deposition of the hast Folkung, Magnus II., the 
Swedish throne descended upon his sister's son, Albert of 
Mecklenburg, who, however, after a few years, was conquered and robbed 
of his kingdom by the Danish Margareta ; whereupon Swe- 
den concluded the Union of Calmar with Denmark. 
This Union of Calmar proved a blessing to neither of the three king- 
doms. In Denmark and Norway, under the weak kings who succeeded 
Margareta, the power of the state fell more and more into the hands of 
the rich nobles, whilst Sweden was treated and governed by the Danish 
kings almost as though it were a conquered country. Dissension soon 
loosened the bonds of the Union of Calmar, without, however, tearing 
them completely asunder. The Hanseates, who sought to prevent a firm 
union of the three kingdoms by every possible method, encouraged these 

. , divisions from interested motives. The house of Oldenburg 
Christian I., /^ -r-. i • ^i x- 

A. D. 1448- assumed the government of Denmark, m the person ot 

1481. Christian I. Sweden, also, at the same time, obtained a 

StenoSture, sagacious and valiant ruler in Steno Sture. This prince 

A. D. 1471- curbed the insolence of the nobles, elevated the peasant and 

■^°°'*' burgher classes, founded the university of Upsala, and invited 

men of learning and printers from foreign lands into the country. Steno 

Sture governed the kingdom with almost absolute power ; but when his 

second successor, Steno Sture the younger, quarrelled with the archbishop 

of Upsala, the tyrannical Christian II. succeeded, by the aid of the latter, 

in establishing anew the supremacy of Denmark over Sweden. Steno 

Sture was overcome in the field and mortally wounded, 

whereupon Christian II. commanded ninety-four of the most 

influential and powerful nobles to be beheaded in Stockholm. But this 

cruelty, after a few years, dissolved forever the bonds between Denmark 

and Sweden. 

7. HUNGARY. 

§ 298. Shortly after Otho's victory on the Lechfeld (§ 210) 
had put an end to the incursions of the Hungarians, Geisa 
became a convert to Christianity, and ordered the doctrines of the Gos- 
pel to be taught to his own people by German missionaries. What he 
ste hen the ^^gan was brought to a conclusion by his son, Stephen the 
Pious, Pious, who received the kingly dignity from the pope. He 

A. D. 1000. provided for the diff'usion of Christianity, (to which the Mag- 
gyars, partly from inherent barbarism, and partly from dislike of the 
Germans, were averse,) by founding monasteries, and calling the Bene- 
dictine monks into the country ; he reduced the state to oi'der by dividing 
the kingdom into comitates (shires), and by intrusting the management 
of the afiiiirs of the army, the government, and the administration of 



HUNGARY. 195 

justice, to intendants appointed by himself: he became a legislator, inas- 
much as he accustomed his subjects to civil order, agriculture, and indus- 
try. But the warlike character of the Magyars, and their repugnance to 
the Christian worship of the "West, which brought servitude, soccage 
duties, and the troublesome labors of agriculture with it, in place of the 
old wild freedom, occasioned desolating wars and fresh confusion after 
the death of Stephen. 

Geisa n., Under Geisa II., troops of Flemish and Low-German 

A. D. 1150. settlers established themselves in Transylvania, who, under 
the name of Saxons, retain to this day the manners, customs, and institu- 
tions of their fjitherland. By patience and industry, they have con- 
verted the land from a desert into a blooming region, with rich towns 
and prosperous villages, and have vigorously defended their liberties 
against all attacks. In the thirteenth century, the Hungarian nobles 
(magnates) wrested a charter (" the golden privilege" ) from 

A. D. 1234. , 1 • A 1 TT o / 

the kmg, Andreas II., which secured imj^ortant privileges to 
the clergy and nobility, and, like the Magna Charta of England (§ 276), 
formed the foundation of the free constitution of Hungary. An infringe- 
ment of the " golden privilege " by the king justified the nobles in an 
armed opposition. 

§ 299. When the royal house of Arpad was extinguished by the death 
Louis the '^^ Andreas III., Hungary became an elective kingdom. 
Great, a. d. Hereupon, Louis the Great, of the royal Neapolitan house 
1342-1348. of Anjou, was raised to the throne. Under this distinguished 
king, Hungary reached the highest point of its external power and domes- 
tic prosperity. He obtained the crown of Poland, extended the frontiers 
of Hungary to the Lower Danube, and made the Venetians his tribu- 
taries. The hills around Tokay were planted with vines, the adminis- 
tration of justice was improved, the citizens and peasants were secured 
against oppression and arbitrary treatment ; schools for education were 
established. After the death of Louis, who conducted many wars in 
Italy, long and violent contests were carried on for the throne, at the ter- 
mination of which, the German emperor, Sigismond, united the Hunga- 
rian crown with his otliers, and arranged the representation of the king- 
dom by means of Estates. Under the weak successors of his daughter, 
Hungary would have fallen a prey to the Ottoman Turks, had not the 
heroic Huniades saved the land by his valor and military skill. The 
nation, out of gratitude, conferred the throne of Hungary upon his ener- 
Matthias Cor- S^*^^ ^^"' Matthias Corvinus, who occupied it for thirty-two 
vinus, A. D. years, as the worthy successor of Stephen the Pious and 
1458-1490. Louis the Great. Matthias shone in the arts of peace as 
well as in those of war. He held the power of the Ottomans in check, 
enlarged his territories towards Austria and Germany, and improved 
the affairs of the army. A naw university was founded by him in Buda, 



196 THE HISTORY OP THE MIDDLE AGE. 

a library established, and the civilization of the people promoted by the 
introduction from all quarters of men of learning and artists, printers and 
architects, gardeners, persons skilled in agriculture, and artificers. These 
advantages were again lost under his successors. The Turks carried 
their victorious arms over Belgrade, the western acquisitions were sur- 
rendered by treaties of peace ; at the same time, the royal power was so 
curtailed, that henceforth, not only the levying of taxes, but even war 
and peace were dependent upon the National Diet, and at length, the 
magnates took possession of the whole authority for themselves. The 
fall of Louis II. at Mohacs (§ 307) occasioned a contest for 

\ D 1526 

the crown, the result of which was, that the country was 
divided into two halves : Transylvania and East Hungary, as far as the 
Theiss, which was under the dominion of the Turks ; and West Hungary, 
which Ferdinand of Austria incorporated for some time with his other 
dominions, till the whole fell into the hands of his successors. 

8. POLAND. 

§ 300. The vast plains of the Vistula and the lands on the Oder and 
the Wartha were inhabited by Slavonic tribes, who were sometimes 
governed by a single chief, and sometimes divided into several princi- 
palities. From the time of the conversion of duke Miesco (Mieceslav) 
to Christianity by German missionaries, Poland was looked ujion as 
a fief of the German empire, but was very slightly connected with it, 
and in the time of Frederick 11. rendered itself entirely independent. 
The kingdom of Poland was torn and weakened by many divisions, 
so that, in the twelfth century, the Silesian principality on the Oder 
was entirely dissevered from it, and united with Germany. Poland 
Vladisliius fii'st rose to importance in the fourteenth century, when 
IV., A. D. 1320. Vladislaus IV. permanently united the principalities on the 
Wartha (Posen, &c.), as Great Poland, with the lands on the Vistula 
(Little Poland) ; had himself crowned in Cracow, and transmitted the 
Casimir the ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^S ^0 his posterity. His son, Casimir the Great, 
Great, A. D. who extended his domains over Gallicia and Bed Russia, 
1333 - 1370. aj;,(j built a university in Cracow, also deserved well of Po- 
land by his merits as a legislator. But despite his efibrts to diminish 
the power of the nobility and to increase that of the cities, no free bur- 
gher class could flourish in a nation so addicted to war and so deficient 
in civilization. The dominion that rested on the sword still remained 
with the nobles, — money, retail traffic, and trade, with the Jews; the 
peasant led a wretched life as a serf, and won but a miserable support 
from the fertile corn-fields of the Vistula. 

§ 301. With Casimir, the male line of the Piasti became extinct ; 
whereupon, the Poles transferred the crown to his sister's son, Louis the 
Great of Hungary. From this time forth, Poland became an elective 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 197 

kingdom ; the nation, nevertheless, adhered for two hundred years to the 
Louis the race of the Jagellons, which, however, was obhged to grant 
Great, a. d. i\^q nobles an immunity from taxes and other great privi- 
13< 0-1382. J .^ return for its election. Under the first king of this 

Ions irD. I'ace, Jagello (Vladislaus), Lithuania was added to the Polish 
1386-1572. empire, after Christianity had been established and the 
idols overthrown there. The woolen garments that were distributed 
during baptism attracted thousands of half-willing Lithuanians to the 
Casimir IV. ^lew faith. Jagello's second successor, Casimir IV., induced 
A.D. 1M7- the German orders to relinquish Culm, Elbing, and Marien- 
1492. werder, and to recognize the suzerainship of Poland ; in doing 

which, he was obliged to purchase by fresh concessions the aid of the 
nobles, who, in tlie Polish diet, alone possessed the privilege of con- 
senting to the raising of taxes and the levying of troops. That every 
noble might not always be obliged to appear personally at the Diet, it was 
arranged that a certain number of authorized deputies sliould be sent 
from all the Voiwodeschafts, to whom the king added besides a few re- 
presentatives of the clergy and of the higher officials. Without the con- 
sent of this assembly, to Avhich the burgher class was not admitted, the 
king could adopt no measure, either of taxation or legislation, nor take 
any important step in the government or in the conduct of war. The 
nobles were regarded as the only true citizens of the state : and the 
principle that they were all exactly on an equality, raised their power in 
the same proportion that frequent changes of the throne and wars of 
succession depressed that of the king. 

In the century of the Keformation, king Siglsmond established the 
suzerainship of Poland over the dukedom of Prussia, which had been 
recently founded by the grand master of the German Order, Albert of 
Brandenburg, who was a convert to Lutheranism, and enfeoffed Gotthard 
Keltler, chief commander of the Order of the Sword, who had also gone 
over to Protestantism, with Courland : but owing to the selfishness of 
the nobles and internal dissensions, the Polish kingdom was unable, for a 
permanency, to afford any sufficient opposition to the advance of the 
Turks and Russians. 

9. THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

§ 302. When the great grandson of the Varangian chief, Ruric (§ 206), 
Vladimir tlie ^^^dimir the Great, who held his residence in Kiow, intro- 
Grcat, duced the Greek Christian Church into his dominions, the 

A. D. 1000. latter extended from the Dnieper to the lake of Ladoga and 
to the banks of the Dwina. But they suffered so much in their union 
and strength under his successors, by divisions among heirs and internal 
A D 1237 '^vars, that the Lithuanians, Poles, and Brethren of the Sword, 
&c., in tlie West, gained possession of lai-ge portions of terri- 
17* 



19S THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGE. 

tory, ami at lei\a;tli, tlie Moguls conquered all the land from the Dnieper 
to the Vistula, and made Russia tributary. Tlie great khan of the Golden 
Horde of Kaptschak, -whose residence, and lixed quarters Avere on the 
east bank of the A'olga, exacted, during two hundred yeai's, an oppressive 
tribute from the Russian princes and their subjects. It -was not until the 
power of tlie Golden Horde liad been broken by dissension, tliat the chief 
Ivvii Vv^iiv- pi'"ice, Ivan Vasilyevitsch the Great of Moscow, succeeded 
ovitsch, A.D. in freeing his kingdom from tribute, and in extending it in 
1462-1505. r^]\ tliroctions by successful wars. The rich city of Novo- 
gorod, which belonged to the Hanseatic confederation, and Avhich had 
possessed, for centuries, a republican constitution, and had known how to 
defend its liberties by a stout militia, was subjected and robbed of its 
privileges, and a number of its chief citizens were removed to other 
towns. Ivan was not only a conqueror, but a legislator and politician, 
although in mind and manners he remained a rude and cruel barbarian. 
He adopted measures respecting the succession of the throne, to the end 
that the kingdom might not be farther divided ; and he invited masons 
and mechanics from Germany and Italy, to plant the seeds of civilization 
among his barbarous people. He built the Kremlin (citadel) for the de- 
fence of his chief city, Moscow. 

Since the destruction of Constaiilinople by the Turks, the Russian 
metropolitan (afterwards called Patriarch) had been elected by the native 
bishops, and thus the independence of the church maintained. Ivan's 

,. ., grandson, Ivan Vasilyevitsch, who first assumed the title of 
Ivan \ rtsilv- ;r i . -r. i -r- 

evitsch II. Izar, or ruler of all the Russians, conquered Ivasan and 

^- ^- Astracan, extended his kingdom to the Caucasus, and made 

'*'* '^'"' preparations for the discovery and subjection of Siberia. He 

laid the Ibundation of a standing army by the establishment of the bri- 
gade of arquebusiers (Strelitzes). The male line of Ruric 
became extinct with Ivan's son, Feodor. 

10. MOGULS AND TURKS. 

Zensis-Klian, § 303. In the beginning of the thirteenth century, Zengis- 
A. D. 1227. Khan (Temudschin), the chief of a warlike nomadic horde, 
marched forth to conquest from the elevated plains of Middle Asia. He 
scaled the Chinese Avail and subdued the '' celestial empire." Neither 
Hindostan, nor the vast empire of the Carismans on the Caspian Sea and 
in Persia, could withstand the savage strength of this advancing pastoral 
tribe. Bochara, Samarcand, and Balch, with all their treasures of art 
and science, perished in the liames. Zengis-Klian's sons and grandsons 
pursued his conquests. Batu subdued the lands to the north of the Black 
Sea, made Russia tributary, burnt Cracow, and filled Poland and Hun- 
gary with slaughter and desolation. At length, the Moguls (who are 
also called Tatars) crossed the Oder ; Breslau Avas reduced to ashes, 



A. D. 1598. 



MOGULS AND TURKS. 199 

duke Henry of Lower Silesia fell, with the llower of his Christian war- 
riors, on the field of battle near Leignitz, beneath the blows of the pagan 
nomads ; the people took refuge in the mountains ; the whole West 
trembled ; the pope and the emperor, engaged in a furious quarrel 
(§ 23G), did nothing towards aiding Christendom. Happily the enemy 
proceeded no farther. The bravery of the European Avarriors and tlic 
strength of their castles scared them away. They turned back from a 
land where there were no riches to attract them, and carried their arms 
against the luxurious khalifate of Bagdad, for which they prepared a 
bloody end. After the last khalif, with 200,000 Moslems had fallen, and 
the ancient seat of the empire of the Abassides had been plundered for 
forty days, the Tatars pressed forward upon Syria, where they destroyed 
the magnificent Haleb (Aleppo) and Damascus, and trampled tlie Chris- 
tian and Arabian culture under the hoofs of their horses. In a few gene- 
rations, the empire of the Moguls separated into a number of independent 
states. But the Russians on the east of the Volga still bore for more 
than two centuries the yoke of the " Golden Horde," and Hungary and 
Poland recovered but slowly from their devastations. 

§ 304. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the Ottomans, 
pressed upon by the Moguls, left the region they had hitherto occupied, 
on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, and descended upon Asia Minor. 
They were a warlike, nomadic race, professing the Mahommedan reli- 
gion, and incited by their priests (dervishes) to make war upon the 
Christians. Othman marched into Bithynia, chose Prusa 

A D 1*^99 

(Bursa) for the seat of his empire, and maintained his con- 
quests against the indolent Greeks and their western mercenaries. His 
successors improved their army by forming the strongest and handsomest 
youths, whom they selected from their Christian captives, into an effective 
Amiinithl. iufantry (janissaries), by means of a military education. 
A- 1>- After Amurath I. had reduced the whole of Asia Minor 

under his yoke, he passed into Europe, and subjected, in a 
few campaigns, the whole country between the Hellespont and the 
Htcmus. Adrianople Avas taken, embellished with splendid mosques, and 
selected for the seat of Arnurath's government. His son, the energetic 
but cruel Bajazet, continued the victorious course of his predecessor with 
Bajazet, ^"^^ success, that he was called the " lightning." He con- 

A. D. quered Macedonia and Thessaly, penetrated through Ther- 

mopyke into the desolated Greece and Peloponnesus, took 
Argos by storm, and allowed his swift horsemen to wander to the south- 
ernmost point of the ancient Laconia. At length, the West armed itself 
against this terrible enemy. Sigismond of Hungary, John of Burgundy, 
the flower of the French chivalry, and many German and Bohemian 
nobles, together more than 100,000 strong, marched to the Lower Danube. 
But in the bloody battle of Nicopolis, the Christians, despite their valor, 



'200 THE HISTORY OF THE JIIDDLE AGE. 

suffered a great defeat. INlany counts and knights fell into (lie hands of 
the Turks, and only obtained their liberty by a heavy ransom. 10,000 
prisoners of inferior rank weri> put to death by the order of Bajazct. 

§ oOo. The vietorious course of this mighty prince was checked by an 
enemy who trod a more vast and bloodier path than himself This enemy 
was the INIogul ruler, Tiniour the Lame (Tamerlane), a descendant of 
Zengis-Khan, whose dilapidated kingdom he determined to restore. He 
left Samarcand, the charmingly situated seat of his empire, at the head 
of his warlike pastoral tribes, for the purpose of subjecting every nation 
between the wall of China and the Mediterranean, by the edge of the 
sword. After he had marched triumphantly through India and Persia, 
and destroyed Bagdad and Damascus, he filled Asia Minor with desola- 
tion and terror. Smoke, ruins, and hills of slain marked his victorious 
path. At tliis point, Bajazct relinquished the siege of Constantinople, 

and marched airainst the connueror of the world. A fearful 
A. D. 1402. . ^ 

battle was fought near Angora (Ancyra), which, despite the 

valor and conduct of the Turks, terminated to the advantage of the 

Moguls. Bajazet was taken prisoner, and died the following year of 

grief. Timour's empire fell to pieces as rapidly as it had been formed. 

Ainm-uhll § '^^^^'" l>i^ji^zet's grandson, Amurath II., restored the shat- 

A.D. 1-121- tcred Ottoman kingdom to its ancient strength and former 

^^^^- compass in Asia and Europe. He reduced the Byzantine 

empire to the strong chief city and a few neighboring places, and made it 

tributary. At this juncture, John VH. (Paheologus), determined to 

gain the aid of die AVest, by uniting the Eastern church with the Roman. 

With this object, he proceeded to Italy, accompanied by the Patriarch 

and a few bishops, where, after a long and vehement dispute upon 

certain religious and ecclesiastical questions, an ambiguous union was 

effected, which, however, Avas rejected by the zealous confessors of both 

churches, and the division made greater than before. Nevertheless, the 

composition Avas attended with this result, that the pope, by his legate. 

Julian, united the Christian princes in a campaign against the Turks, 

and in the mean while, attempted to persuade the Hungarians and Poles 

to an attack upon the Ottoman empire. Ladislaus, king of Hungary and 

Poland, and the heroic Iluniades of Transylvania, crossed the Danube, 

but were totally defeated in the bloody battle of "NVarna. 

The voung king was one of the slain ; his head was carried 



*» "'"o 



about on a spear ; the legate, Julian, was overtaken by death during the 
llight. 

§ o07. The last hour of the Byzantine empire was approaching, when, 
upon the death of Amurath II., his energetic but bloodthirsty son, 
,, , , Mohammed II., became sultan of the Ottomans. Resolved 

II., A. u. upon mtiking Constantinople the seat of his government, he 

1451-14S1. advanced to the siege of the city, and harrassed it lor hfty 



MOGULS AND TURKS. 201 

days by repeated assaults to sueli a degree, that, despite a gallant defence, 
it could hold out no longer. AVhen the walls were scaled, the last empe- 
ror, Constantine, who still possessed some feeling for tlie old Roman 
greatness — for freedom, for religion, and for his country, — joined in the 
combat, and fell bravely fighting on the walls of his capital. Tlio ancient 
seat of Byzantine magnificence became the residence of tlie sultan. The 
church of St. Sopliia was turned into a mosque, and the half-moon of 
Islam was planted on the ruins of Christian civilization. Many learned 
men fled in terror to the West, and were instrumental in diffusing the 
Greek language and literature. The fall of Constantinople was followed 
by llie conquest of Greece and the Morea (Peloponnesus), and the sub- 
jection of the countries on the Danube ; it was only in the mountainous 
regions of Albania and Epirus, that the warlike hero, Alexander Castriota 
A D. 1467. (Scanderbeg), maintained an independent authority till liis 
deatli, whilst the independence of Hungary was secured by 

SoljTTian the ^, ., n -r-r • -i -n, 1 ^ -r. loi 

Ma<niificent ^'^^ victory ot liuniades at Belgrade. But under Solyman 

A. u. 1520- the Magnificent, who wrested the island of Rhodes (§ 227) 

1^-^- from the knights of St. John, after a most gallant resistance, 

the half of Hungary, together with Buda, fell, after the terrible battle of 

Mohacs, into the hands of the Ottomans, who now extended 

their ravages to the walls of Vienna, and alarmed the whole 

West. It Avas •under Solyman that the Turkish empire attained its most 

extended limits and its greatest internal strength. In Asia, it embraced 

Syria and the whole country as far as the Tigris ; in Africa, Egypt, with 

the sea-coast, and the piratical states of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripolis. 

After Solyman, who died at an advanced age before Si";eth, 
A. D. 1566. . r 1 f e ^^ X ,^ • v • 

in Hungary, (m defence ot which the magnanimous Zriny 

met with the death of a hero), the waidike power of the Turks gradually 
decayed under the exhausting influence of debauchery and sensual indul- 
gence. 



BOOK THIRD 



THE MODERN EPOCH. 



I. THE rORERHN'NEES OF THE MODERN EPOCH. 

1. THE SEA PASSAGE TO TUE EAST INDIES, AND THE DISCOVERY OF 

AMERICA. 

§ 308. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many great inven- 
tions began to be applied, by which the condition of the middle ages 
experienced a complete revolution. An Italian, Flavio Gioga, prepared 
a compass by means of the magnetic needle, by which a mighty impulse 
was given to navigation ; gunpowder, which, according to some, was the 
invention of a German monk, Berthold Schwarz, and in the opinion of 
others, had been known at a remote period by the Chinese and Arabians, 
came into use in the middle of the fourteenth century, and prepared the 
downfall of chivalry. But the invention which was most 
A. D. 1440. f(^Y{[iQ in results was the art of printing, which was called 
into existence by John Guttenburg of Mayence. His assistants in the 
work, who alone derived any advantage from the discovery, were Fust or 
Faust, a goldsmith of Mayence, and Peter Schoffer, a writer of books. 
The latter introduced types of metal in place of the wooden ones which 
Guttenburg had employed. At first, the art was kept secret ; but it was 
carried by German workmen into all the countries of civilized Europe. 
By this means, books, which had hitherto been only attainable by the 
rich, came into the hands of the people, inasmuch as their cost was ma- 
terially lessened by the ease with which they were multiplied. 

§ 309. By the use of the compass, it became possible to extend 
navi"-ation, which had hitherto been confined to the coast and the Medi- 
terranean, over the ocean. This was fix-st done by the Portuguese. The 
discovery of the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira, where the culture 
of the vine and sugar-cane succeeded admirably, was soon followed by the 
possession of the Azores and by the discovery of the Cape de Yerd and 



y 



MARITIME DISCOVERIES. 203 

the coast of Upper Guinea, rich in gold dust, ivory, gum, and Negro 
slaves. Lower Guinea (Congo) was also discovered in the reign of king 
John II. It was from this point that the daring Bartholo- 
mew Diaz reached the southern extremity of Africa, the 
original name of which, " the Cape of Storms," was soon changed by the 
sanguine king into that of " the Cape of Good Hope." Not more than 
twenty years after, the enterprising Vasco da Garaa discovered from this 
point, in the reign of Emmanuel the Great, the sea passage to the East 
Indies,. when he sailed from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean 
to the coast of Malabar, and entered the haven of Calicut. It was here 
that the Portuguese, after some sharp encounters with the natives, esta- 
blished the first European commercial colony, — an undertaking which 
they completed with perseverance and courage. 

After Vasco da Garaa and Cabral (who discovered Brazil during the 
passage, [a. d. 1500], and took possession of it for Portugal), came the 
gallant Almeida, who reduced many of the Indian princes to pay tribute 
and compelled them to submit to the establishment of factories in their 
chief cities. After he had been killed by the wild Hottentots on his re- 
turn, Albuquerque, in whom heroic courage was united with wisdom, 
received the governorship of India. He conquered Goa, 
'^' °' "^ ■ and made it the capital of the Indian colony ; he stormed 
Malacca, the emporium of the trade of Upper India, reduced the ruler 
of Ormuz in the Gulf of Persia to subjection, and caused the name of 
Emmanuel to be feared and respected. But the latter rewarded his 
faithful servant Avith ingratitude ; and grief at this broke the hero's heart. 
During the next ten years, the Portuguese established colo- 

A. D 1515 J ' o 

nies and factories on the island of Ceylon, and the coast of 
Coromandel, and subjected the spice-bearing Molucca and Sunda islands. 
Lisbon became the seat of the commerce of the world; but avarice and 
selfishness soon stifled the nobler emotions in the hearts of the Portu- 
guese. 

§ 310. The zeal for discovery, which was awakened by the enterprises 
of the Portuguese, inspired the bold Genoese, Christopher Columbus 
(Colon), with the thought of discovering a new way to the vaunted In- 
dies, by a western passage. lie imparted his project to his native city, 
Genoa, and begged for support ; but there, as well as by the Portuguese 
and English, he was refused. At length, Isabella of Castile, in the joy 
of her heart at the fortunate conquest of Granada, allowed herself to be 
persuaded to fit out three vessels, and to intrust them to the bold voya- 
ger. The title of Great Admiral and Viceroy of all the lands and 
islands that should be discovered, and a tenth part of the revenue that 
might be expected to be received from them, were promised to himself 
and his posterity, as the reward of his success. On the 3d of August, 
1492, the little fleet left the Andalusian harbor of Palos, and passed the 



204 THE MODERN EPOCIT. 

Canary islands, sailing constantly to the westward. The fear and anxie- 
ty of the seamen increased with the distance they traversed, and at 
length broke into murmuring and open mutiny. The crew were already 
threatening their magnanimous leader with death unless he returned, 
when the discovery of the island Guahanani (since then called St. Sal- 
vador), on the 12th of October, saved hira. They found a beautiful and 
fruitful country, with naked copper-colored savages, who looked on with- 
out the slightest suspicion, whilst their land was taken possession of in 
the names of the royal pair of Spain, and who exchanged their goods 
for toys and spangles ; but the anticipated treasures in gold, precious 
stones, and pearls, were not met with in the abundance that was hoped 
for, either here or on the two larger islands of Cuba and Hayti (liis- 
paniola, St. Domingo), which were shortly afterwards discovered. After 
Columbus had established a colony on Hispaniola, he returned to Spain, 
and after a dangerous voyage, brought back to astonished Europe the in- 
telligence of a new world, which, in consequence of the original error, 
received the name of the West Indies. In the course of his three fol- 
lowing voyages, Columbus discovered more islands (for example, Jamai- 
ca), and at length, also, the north-east coast of South America, not far 
from the mouth of the Oronoco. But this new portion of the world did 
not bear the name of its discoverer, but that of its describer, the Flor- 
entine, Amerigo Vespucci. Columbus shared the lot of many other 
great men ; he was not permitted to enjoy the fruits of his labors. The 
colony that had been left behind in Hispaniola had fallen into confusion, 
in consequence of quarrels among themselves and with the natives. 
When Columbus, for the purpose of restoring order, wished to punish 
some of the most licentious disturbers of peace, the latter made an accu- 
sation against him at the Spanish court. Hereupon, king Ferdinand 
sent a narrow-minded official to make inquiries, who commenced his un- 
dertaking by depriving Columbus of his governorship, and ordering him 
to be carried in fetters to Spain. Here he was indeed released from his 
chains, but nothing was thought about the fulfilment of the stipulated 
contract. Columbus, deprived of his offices and dignities, 
died, shortly after his last unfortunate voyage, in Valladolid, 
whence his dead body was afterwards carried to Cuba. The fetters in 
v.'hich he had been brought bound to Spain, were placed with him in his 
grave, by his son Diego. 

§ 311, A new spirit of heroism had been awakened by Columbus; all 
courageous men who were acquainted with the sea went forth to make 
discoveries. Who could Avish to remain idle when so rich a field for 
gold, renown, and ambition stood open ? The hardy and enterprising 
Balboa surmounted the rocky isthmus of Panama under in- 
credible difficulties, and discovered the Pacific Ocean. The 
Portuguese Magelhaens, sailed through the straits, named after him, into 



CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND PERU. 205 

the Pacific, reached the East india Islands, after enduring the extremi- 
ties of famine, and thus made the first voyage round the world. Both 
died violent deaths, the former by his envious followers, the latter by the 
hand of an assassin on the Philippines. 
. ^ iron The most remarkable event, however, was the discovery 

and conquest of Mexico by Ferdinand Cortez. The contest 
A. D. 1521. j^gj.g carried on was not with savages, but with a people who 
dwelt in towns, exercised arts and trade, clothed themselves in cotton 
stuffs, and lived under a regular system of government, with a king, a 
rich nobility, and a powerful priesthood. With 500 valiant Spaniards, 
who were accompanied by a few native tribes (the Tlascalani) as allies, 
Cortez subjected a populous nation, who were deficient neither in warlike 
spirit nor patriotism, took 'their king, Montezuma, prisoner in his own 
palace, and conquered the chief city, Mexico. The frightful effects of 
the thundering ordnance, the stately cavalry, the splendor of the Euro 
pean military accoutrements, engendered a notion among the natives, that 
the Spaniards must be a higher order of beings, whom it was impossible 
for them, with their feeble strength and miserable Aveapons (iron was 
unknown to them), to withstand. Within two years, Cortez conquered 
the land, and put an end to the horrible idol-worship, in which thousands 
of men were every year offered in sacrifice ; but he was prevented by the 
suspicious government from establishing a new and regulated system. 
He was recalled, and died forgotten in Spain, A. d. 1547. 
A. D. 1529- With still smaller means than Cortez, Pizarro and Alma- 

1535. gro, men of great courage and enterprise, but without culti- 

vation, and governed by selfishness and the coarser passions, effected the 
conquest of the golden land of Peru. The Peruvians, ruled over by the 
rich royal race ot Incas, were a civilized nation of mild character, un- 
stained by the frightful idolatry of the Mexicans, but also devoid of their 
military virtue. A contest for the throne among the royal family facili- 
tated the conquest of the land by the Spaniards. After the cruel Pizarro 
had made himself master of the king, and, despite his promise to set him 
free in return for an enormous mass of gold, ordered him to be executed, 
he subjected the beautiful land which abounded in the precious metals, 
A. D. 1535- and founded the new capital, Lima. Francis Pizarro and 
1538. his brother soon quarrelled with Almagro (who in the mean 

time had discovered Chili), and they turned their arms against each other. 
Almagro was overcome and beheaded, but his son avenged the death of 
bis father on Francis Pizarro. The land was reduced to the brink of 
destruction by the wild rage of the discoverers. At this crisis, Charles 
V. sent a wise and prudent priest, Gasca, as governor to Peru : Gasca 

subdued the rebellious troops, had the last Pizarro hung «n 

A. D. 1^48. -i ' ° 

the gallows, and then arranged the state anew. 
§ 312. Much as we may admire the heroic courage and the enterpris- 
18 



206 THE MODERJ^" EPOCH. 

ing spirit displayed by Europeans in the conquest of the New World, 
we must equally deplore the severity and avarice which impelled them 
to the most cruel ill-usage of the natives. Those who escaped from the 
sword, the destructive effects of gunpowder, and the multiplied diseases, 
were mercilessly destroyed by severe laboi-s. They were compelled to 
take care of the plantations which the conquerors made on their pro- 
perty, to dig in the gold and silver mines which were opened in their 
country, and to carry burdens for which their feeble bodies were not 
fitted. It was in vain that well-meaning priests, who attempted as mis- 
sionaries to bring Christianity to the savages, preached kindness and 
humanity, — selfishness hardened the hearts of the Europeans and ren- 
dered them insensible to the teaching of the Gospel ; and when at length 
the noble priest Las Casas, with the purpose of lightening the lot of the 
Indians, recommended the more robust African negro for the severe 
labors of the plantations, this gave occasion to the horrible slave-trade, 
which was a curse ujjon the black population, without preventing the 
gradual extinction of the copper-colored native. The discoveiy of the 
New World and the introduction of American productions were attended 
with vast results on the European manners and mode of living. Have 
not colonial wares, coffee, sugar, tobacco, &c., since they have been in 
general use, become indispensable necessaries ? Do not potatoes, which 
we received from thence, form the most important part of the food of the 
people ? What influence has not the increased quantity of the precious 
metals, which the mines of Peru have yielded, exercised upon all the rela- 
tions of life and upon the value of property ? The natural sciences and 
geography have been so enriched, that since then they have had an 
entirely different aspect. Trade also took a different direction : — as 
formerly the Italian trading towns, so now the western states, Portu- 
gal, Spain, the Netherlands, and, somewhat later, England, became 
the centre of commerce and the seat of wealth. But as both the for- 
mer fettered their trade from its very commencement, and excluded other 
nations from their colonies, the season of their prosperity was but 
transient. 

2. THE REVIVAL OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

§ 313. In the fifteenth century, Italy was the central point of Western 
civilization ; many splendid courts and opulent cities contended for the 
glory of becoming patrons of the arts and sciences. The Medici in Flo- 
rence (§ 288, 289), and several popes, caused manuscripts to be pur- 
chased, and founded libraries and academies ; the printing establishments 
which arose in all quarters came to the assistance of their efibrts. At 
fir^t, attention was exclusively directed to the Latin language and litera- 
ture ; but when, after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, many 
of the learned men of Byzantium took refuge in Italy Greek also came 



THE REVIVAL OP THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 207 

into fasliion. Dictionaries and grammars were compiled ; the compre- 
hension of the ancient authors was faciHtated by commentaries and trans- 
lations, and a classical Latin style became the distinguishing mark of an 
educated man. The next consequence of the revival of classical studies 
was the establishment of fresh seminaries of education, first, in Italy, and 
afterwards, in the other countries of Europe. Many universities, gymna- 
siums, and educational establishments of all sorts arose, especially in Ger- 
many, Avhich had long maintained a close intercourse with Italy ; and 
many learned men, as John Reuchlin from Pforzheim (a. d. 1521), 
Erasmus of Rotterdam (a. d. 1536), and Ulrick of Hutten (a. d. 1523), 
rivalled the great Italians in the knowledge of the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages and of science. The friends of the new culture were called Hu- 
manists ; their opponents, the supporters of the scholastic wisdom of the 
middle ages, and above all others, the Dominicans, were named Obscu- 
rantists. The Humanists of all countries were connected with one 
another. Latin, then the universal lana;ua2:e of all learned and educated 
men, and a rapid interchange of letters, which supplied the place of news- 
papers, facilitated this intercourse. The contest between the new culture 
and the Obscurantists, with their barbarous Latin, reached its highest 
point in the dispute which was conducted by Reuchlin with the Domini- 
cans of Cologne. The latter wished to burn all the Hebrew books, 
because they were supposed to contain blasphemies against Jesus Christ. 
Reuchlin, who was appointed umpire in the matter by the emperor, de- 
clared the charge to be untrue, and opposed himself to the design. This 
so enraged the monks, that they accused Reuchlin of heresy, openly burnt 
one of his works, and condemned the study of the Greek and Hebrew 
languages. This produced a literary war, in which all the friends of 
education took the part of Reuchlin, and the cause of the Humanists 
obtained a complete triumph. The pope at length put an end to the con- 
test : the Dominicans Avere condemned to pay the costs of the process ; 
and when they delayed to do this, they were forced to. discharge their 
obligations bj' Francis Sickingen. From the crowd that assembled 
itself around Reuchlin, proceeded the Ephtolce, obscurorwn virorum, 
which are said to have been cliiefly the production of Ulrick von Hutten. 
In these letters, the proceedings and stupid insolence of the monks are 
faithfully but satirically displayed in their own barbarous Latin. Hutten, 
one of tlie boldest and most powerful advocates of Germany's freedom 
and independence, died, persecuted and a fugitive, on the island of Ufnau 
in the lake of Zurich, in the 36th year of his life. Erasmus of Rotterdam, 
an elegant scholar in ancient literature, fought, with all the weapons of 
wit and intellect, against schoolmen and monks. Among his numerous 
works, the most important are The Praise of Folly, — a satirical compo- 
sition, and an edition of the New Testament in the original Greek text, 
with a Latin translation and paraphrase. At first, a friend of Luther 



20S THE ]MODER]!ir EPOCH. 

and Hutten, lie afterwards turned from them and opposed them in vehe- 
ment controversial writings. y 



11. THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION. 

1. THE GERMAN REFORMATION. 
a. DR. MARTIN LUTHER. 

§ 314. The cry that passed through Europe in the fifteenth century, 
for a reformation of the Church both in its head and members, had 
remained unheeded by the popes ; and the great ecclesiastical synods 
(§ 264, 266) had been followed by no results. The Church had refused 
the voluntary self-purification that had been required of her, and turned 
a deaf ear to the voice of the people. Since then, the abuses had not 
been diminished. The court of Rome derived a vast revenue from the 
churches of other countries ; the lower clergy were lazy, immoral, and 
ignorant, and took little or no interest in the new culture and the impulse 
that had been produced by it ; the higher clergy led an entirely worldly 
life, found their enjoyment in sensual indulgences and princely magnifi- 
cence, and in the study of works of art and literature, and of the i^hilo- 
sophy of heathen antiquity, frequently lost sight of the doctrines of the 
Gospel. Nothing but an impulse was wanting to unite the dissatisfied 
members of the Church in a mighty opposition. This impulse was given 
by Pope Leo X. For the purpose of defraying the expenses of the 
ei'cction of the church of St. Peter, and of other works of art, Leo offered 
an indulgence for sale, through the Elector, Albert of Mayence, in which 
forgiveness of sins, reattainment of God's grace, and remission from the 
punishments of purgatory, were assured to the purchaser. Albert, who 
received one half of the profits, employed in Saxony the Dominican monk 
Tetzel, in the sale, who went so audaciously to work, that the Augustine 
monk. Dr. Martin Luther, who saw that real penitence and respect for 
the confessional were thereby endangered, felt himself compelled to affix 
ninety-five theses to the castle church at Wittenberg, on the eve of All- 
Saints, with the oflTer to defend them against any one. In these, he con- 
tested the efl&cacy of absolution without repentance, and denied the power 
of the pope to grant remission of sins to any except the penitent. 

§ 315. Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November, 1483. Des- 
tined to study by his father, a respectable miner, he had devoted himself 
to jurisprudence, for four years, in Erfurt, when anxiety for the salvation 
of his soul, and the sudden death of a friend during a heavy thunder- 
storm, determined him to enter a cloister. He once more entertained 



THE GERMAN REFORMATION. 209 

himself among his friends with cheerful singing, music, and wine, and 
then shut himself up in the silent cell of an Augustine monastery at 
Erfurt. He here submitted himself to all the duties and servile offices 
of a mendicant monk, but without thereby obtaining alleviation of his 
melancholy, or of the sufferings of his soul. It was not until he arrived 
at tlie conviction that man can only be saved, not by his own works, 
but by the mercy of God in Christ, that his heart found repose. By 
the recommendation of the chief of the order, Staupitz, Luther was 
summoned to Wittenberg, in 1508, to give lectures in the University 
newly established by Frederick the Wise. He had attended with 
great diligence to his duties as teacher, preacher, and pastor of souls, 
when he was now called by Providence to a more extended sphere of 
exertion. 

§ 31G. This bold stepping forward of Luther, in whom a deep reli- 
gious earnestness was not to be mistaken, found great sympathy in the 
whole of Germany. A summons was soon issued to him to come and 
defend himself in Rome ; but upon the intercession of the Elector of 
Saxony, who was favorably disposed to the reformer, the papal nuncio, 
Cajetanus, undertook the examination in Augsburg. Luther, provided 
with a safe conduct, appeared in a poor plight at Augsburg : the proud 
Dominican thought to refute the humble monk by his theological learn- 
ing ; but Luther displayed more depth and reading than the former had 
given him credit for. After a short disputation, Cajetan commanded him 
to be gone, and not to appear again before him till he (Cajetan) should 
call him. After drawing up an appeal to the pope hetter informed, 
Luther fled Ijastily from Augsburg during the night. It was in vain 
that Cajetan required the Elector either to send the audacious preacher to 
Rome, or at least to banish him from his states. Frederick replied, that 
Luther's wash to be brought before an impartial tribunal appeared to him 
to be reasonable. This protection of the Elector was of the more impor- 
tance to Luther, as the former, since the death of the emperor Maxi- 
laihan, was conducting the government, until the princes could agree 
respecting a fresh election. For as the pope wished to exercise an influ- 
ence on the election of emperor, he attempted to gain over the Electors to 
his own side. He sent his chamberlain, Miltitz, an adroit Saxon noble- 
man, with a golden rose, to Wittenberg. He was commissioned at the 
same time to dissuade Luther from farther proceedings against the 
Church. Luther promised to let the contest drop if the trade in indul- 
gences was put a stop to, and silence imposed upon his adversaries as 
well as on himself; and to prove his sincerity, he required, in one of his 
writings, every man to give respect and obedience to the Roman Church, 
and assured the pope, in a humble letter, that it had never been his 
intention to attack the privileges of the Roman chair. 

§ 317. But the wished.-for reconciliation did not take place. John von 
18* 



210 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Eck (Eckius), professoi' in Ingolstadt, a learned man and skilful in argu- 
ment, bad a disputation with Lutlier in Leipsie. Here 

June, 1519. -.-,.,, ^ . . , , 

Lutlier, m the heat of controversy, maintamed that the 

bishop of Rome had become the bead of the Church, not by the ordi- 
nation of Jesus, but by human arrangements made centuries later, and 
threw doubts upon the infallibility of popes and councils. Irritated at 
this audacity, Eckius at once composed a leai'ned book, in which he 
attempted to prove that the papacy was derived from Christ himself 
through Peter, and that, consequently, it must be a Divine institution. 
Eckius hastened to Rome with this book, and procured a 

June 16, 1520. ^ ,, . , . , . ,. t , , -i . 

bull, ni which a succession or Luther s doctrines were con- 
demned as heretical, his writings sentenced to be burnt, and he himself 
threatened with excommunication unless he recanted within sixty days. 
This proceeding of the Roman court, which condemned the German 
reformer upon the accusation of an opponent, without so much as hear- 
ing his defence, was disapproved of by all Germany. The Bull of 
excommunication, which was made known by Eckius, produced, there- 
fore, very little effect ; it was only in Cologne, Mayence, and Louvain, 
that the order for burning Luther's writings was carried into effect ; the 
Bull was not even admitted into Saxony. By so much the greater was 
the effect of some vigorous pamphlets of Luther, " To the Christian 
Nobles of the German nation," and " On the Babylonian Captivity and 
Christian Freedom," in which he exposed without reserve the abuses and 
failings of the existing Church, and demanded their removal. Encouraged 
by the enthusiasm with which these writings were received, and the cry 
for freedom that resounded through the German nation, Luther now ven- 
tured to take a step that separated him by an impenetrable gulf from 
the Romish Church. He proceeded, at the head of all the students, to 
December 10, the Elster gate of Wittenberg, and there cast the Bull of ex- 
1520. communication, together Avith the canons and decretals of the 

Church, into the flames. 

§ 318. In the mean time, IVlaximilian's grandson, Charles V. of Spain 
and Burgundy (§ 294), was elected emperor of Germany, and his first 
undertaking was to be an arrangement of the contentions of the Church. 
He appointed a diet at Worms, and oi'dered Luther, under the assurance 
of a safe conduct, to appear. Full of courage and confidence in God, but 
not without fear of experiencing the fate of Huss (§ 264), Luther 
ai'rived at Worms in the midst of the sympathizing crowd that was 
streaming thither. The splendid assembly, in which, besides the emperor 
and the papal ambassador (Alexander), there were present many princes, 
nobles, prelates, and deputies from the states, at first disconcerted him. 
When called upon to recant, he begged till the following day for consi- 
deration. At his second appearance, he had recovered the whole of his 
strength and resolution. He declared himself, freely and openly, to be 



THE GERMAN REFORMATION. 211 

the author of the writings that were produced before him ; rejected the 
invitation to recant, with the words " Tliat so long as he should not be 
convinced out of the Holy Scriptures that he was in error, he could not 
and -would not retract, for that his conscience was imprisoned in God's 
Word ;" and concluded with the exclamation, " Here I stand, I can take 
no other course ; God help me. Amen." All attempts to induce him to 
soften ihis declaration failed ; yet no violent proceeding was ventured 
upon. Luther departed in safety ; many princes and members of the 
diet did the same ; then, the ban of the empire was first uttered against 
Luther and his adherents, and his writings condemned to the flames. 
, Charles Y., at this time in more close alliance with the pope, Avas deter- 
mined to exterminate heresy. But Luther was already secure.- During 
his return home, the Elector Frederick had him seized upon, and carried 
as a prisoner to the castle of Wartburg, under the title of Ritter George. 
He lived here nearly a year ; at first, he was lamented by his friends, 
till some bold fugitive pieces, and an angry letter against Albert of May- 
ence, who was again practising the sale of indulgences, convinced them 
that he was still alive and active. Albert repented, and discontinued the 
tratfic. 

§ 319. Whilst Luther, although troubled by sickness and melancholyj 
was leading an active life at the Wartburg, proceedings calculated to 
disturb tranquillity arose in Wittenberg, which were not repressed with 
sufficient earnestness by the pious and peace-loving Elector. Dr. Carl- 
stadt, a man of confused mind and unsettled in his principles, abolished 
the mass, extended the cup to the laity, and exercised his zeal against 
images and ceremonies. He was soon joined by the so-called Zurickhauer 
prophets, — men without education, and under the dominion of fanatical 
feelings, — who declaimed against the baptism of infants, insisted upon 
the rebaptism of adults (hence called Anabaptists), and believed in im- 
mediate inspirations from God. Images, and the garments used in the 
celebration of the mass, were destroyed in some churches, monks fled 
from their cloisters, and confusion took possession of men's minds. Lu- 
ther was no longer at peace in the castle of Wartburg. He hastened to 
Wittenber<T, preached daily for a week against the overhasty 

March 1522. 

and uncharitable innovations, dismissed the Zurickhauer fa- 
natics, and won men's minds to a peaceable development of the Reforma- 
tion. Wittenberg now became the centre of German culture. It was 
here that' Philip Melancthon of Bretten, who, when a youth of twenty, 
had already fathomed the depths of learning, and by whose means the 
Saxon schools and church attained a high degree of prosperity, labored 
by the side of Luther. Luther's impetuous and boisterous energy Avas 
well fitted to pluck down, whilst Melancthon's mild and yielding nature 
was adapted to the work of restoration ; and, as Melancthon, the great 
adept in, and promoter of, humane studies, sought, by his learned Latin 



212 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

writings to establish tlie new Church doctrines on a scientific basis, so 
Luther won tlie liearts of the people by his German writings and songs, 
and especially by his translation of the Bible. This Lutheran Bible, 
which was begun in the castle of Wartburg and finished in Wittenberg, 
after careful consultation with his friends, appeared completed in 1534, 
a master-piece of the German language and of the German spirit. 

§ 320. The new doctrine soon spread beyond the limits of Saxony. 
Besides the Elector of Saxony, the energetic landgrave, Philip of Hesse, 
the founder of the university of Marburg, was, in particular, a zealous 
promoter of the Gospel. But it was the educated burghers of the impe- 
rial cities who distinguished themselves beyond all others by their zeal. 
The assembled people would often, of their own accord, set up a psalm or 
a hymn, and by this means gave an impulse to the abolishing of the 
mass. Where the church was denied to the evangelically-minded people, 
they held their devotions in the open air, in fields and meadows ; and 
where religious motives were not sufficiently powerful, there the view of 
the Church property and worldly advantages helped out what was want- 
ing. The whole of Germany appeared to be hurried away in this 
church movement, and a national Church, independent of Rome, to 
spring up from it. But the pope Avon over Ferdinand of 
Austria, the duke of Bavaria, and several South-German 
bishops, to the alliance of Eegensbui-g, in Avhich they vowed mutually to 
support each other, and to exclude the innovations of Wittenberg from 
their dominions. Thus Avere the seeds of an unhappy division spread 
abroad in Germany at the very moment when the freedom and inde 
pendence of the nation was the aspiration of her noblest spirits. 

h. THE PEASANT WAR. 

§ 321. The general call to freedom and independence, that, since Lu- 
ther's appearance, had resounded through all Germany, filled the peasants 
with the hope of alleviating their condition by their own exertions. In 
this Avay originated the peasant war. At first, patriotically disposed 
men, like Sickingen and Hutten, appeared to wish to place themselves at 
the head of the movement, and to carry through the renovation of Ger- 
many, both in state and Church, by the sword. But Sickingen's early 
death during the siege of his castle of Landstuhl, and Hutten's flight, de- 
layed the outbreak, and robbed it of plan and proportion. The fatiatical 
discourses of the fickle Anabaptist, Thomas Miinzer, Avho talked of 
abolishing temporal and spiritual power, and of setting up a heavenly 
kingdom where all men should be equal, and every distinction between 
rich and poor, noble and base, should disappear, confused the understand- 
ings of the excited peasants. It was not long before the people, from 
the Boden Lake to Dreisam, assembled themselves around Hans Miiller 
of Bulgenbach, who had formerly been a soldier. He marched in a red 



THE PEASANT WAR. 213 

mantle and cap from village to village, at tlie head of his followers. The 
chief banner was borne behind him on a carriage decorated with boughs 
and ribbons. They carried twelve articles with them, the importance of 
which they were ready to maintain with their swords. By these arti- 
cles, they demanded the liberty of hunting, fishing, cutting wood, &;c.; 
the abolition of serfdom, soccage duties, and tithes ; the right of choosing 
their own ministers ; and the free preaching of the Gospel. Their ex- 
ample was soon followed by the peasants in the Odenwald, and by those 
on the Xeckar and in Franconia, under the conduct of the audacious pub- 
lican, George Metzler. They compelled the counts of Hohenlohe, Low- 
enstein, "Wertheim, Gemmingen, the superiors of the German Order in 
Mergentheim, and others to accept the articles, and to concede the privi- 
leges demanded, to their subjects; whoever dared to resist them, as count 
Helfenstein von Weinsberg, was put to a cruel death. They marched 
through the land burning and devastating ; they destroyed the monaste- 
ries and castles, and took a bloody revenge on their oppressors and ad- 
versaries. Under the conduct of brave knights, like Florian Geier and 
Gbtz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand, they penetrated into Wurzburg, 
whilst other bands ravaged the lands of Baden. The insurrection soon 
extended itself over the whole of Swabia, Franconia, Alsacia, and the 
lands of the Rhine. The spiritual and temporal princes became alarmed, 
and conceded a part of the demands of the irritated peasants. In Thu- 
ringia and the Harz, the revolt assumed more of a religious character. 
In Muhlhausen, Thomas Munzer had acquired great respect and the 
reputation of a prophet. He rejected Luther's moderate views, girded 
himself with the sword of Gideon, and wished to establish a Divine 
kingdom, the members of which should be all free and equal. The peo- 
ple, excited by his preaching, destroyed castles, monasteries, and the me- 
morials of antiquity, in their barbarous fury. 

§ 322. In the commencement, before the insurrection had yet assumed 
so formidable an aspect, Luther attempted to restore jDeace : he represent- 
ed to the nobles and jirinces that they had been guilty of acts of vio- 
lence ; and at the same time, exhorted the peasants to refrain from rebel- 
lion. But when the danger increased, when temporal and spiritual 
things were mingled together, he published a forcible tract " against the 
plundering and bloodthirsty peasants," in which he called upon the magis- 
trates to attack them with the sword, and to show them no sort of mercy. 
Upon this, the nobles and knights assembled themselves from all quarters 
against the rebels. The elector John of Saxony, the landgrave Philip 
of Hesse, and others, marched into Thuringia and won an easy victory, 
by means of their artillery, over Thomas Munzer and his half-armed 
peasants. A place of execution was set up before Muhlhausen, on which 
the Thuringian "prophet" was put to a bloody death after undergoing 
frightful tortures. 



^14 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Ti'uchsess of Waklburg, captain of the S\yabiau league, restored peace 
in Swabia, and then marched, in conjunction with the P21ector of tlie Pa- 
latinate and the Avarlike archbishop of Triers, against the bands of Fran- 
conia, who were besie<>;in2; the strong castle of Wurzburg. Here, ascain, 
superior military skill and better arms triumphed over the disorderly 
crowd. The insurgents, after a short defence, betook themselves to a 
headlong flight, in which most of them were killed ; the prisoners were 
put to death, and a severe punishment inflicted on the citizens of the 
Frank towns, who had sided with the rebels. The axe of the execu- 
tioner was long busy in Wurzburg. The same was the case in Alsacia, 
and the Middle Ehine-land, and also the Black Forest, and at the sources 
of the Danube, where the insurrection had lasted longest. At length, 
Truchsess of Waklburg and the renowned condottiere, George of Frends- 
berg, succeeded, by dint of severity, in restoring order. In the majo- 
rity of places, the peasants were again oppressed 'Avith all their for- 
mer burdens, and in many spots the cry was loudly echoed, " If they 
have formerly been chastised with rods, they shall now be scourged with 
scorpions." 

C. THE TROTESTATIOX AND THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG. 

§ 323. The new Church grew stronger and stronger in the midst of 
battles and disturbances, and Luther's energy increased with oppo- 
sition. He left the cloister of the Augustines in 1524, and, in the fol- 
lowing year, married Catherine of Bora, who had been foi-merly a nua. 
Surrounded by a circle of sincere friends, and by his brothers in oflicc, 
he now led the life of domesJtic happiness which was so well suited to his 
disposition. His energy and cheerful confidence in God were neither 
broken nor disturbed by hi's poverty, or the repeated attacks of illness he 
experienced. By his two Catechisms he laid the foundation of a uniform 
confession of faith, and of a better religious education. Melancthon, 
upon whom the Elector, about this time, devolved the troublesome task of 
holding a general visitation of the churches all over Saxony, was not less 
active. The Eeformation made such advances by the united efforts of 
these two men, that the Catholic princes, both temporal and spiritual, 
became alarmed. They therefore passed a resolution at the diet of Spire, 
that no farther innovations should be made in religion, tliat 

\. p. 1529. ^" 

the new doctrines should not be farther disseminated, and that 
no impediment should be given to the celebration of the mass. It was 
against this decree of the Diet, by which the Reformation would have 
been condemned to a fatal pause, that a Protest was entered by many of 
the princes and imperial towns. It was for this reason that they, in com- 
mon with all those who rejected the authority of the pope and the doc- 
trines of the Eoman Catholic Church, received the name of Protest- 
ants. As the emperor would not receive the protestation, which was 



ULPJC ZWINGLE. 215 

brought to liim in Italy, the protesting princes and towns would at once 
have arranged a confederacy for their mutual defence, had not Luther 
and the evangelical theologians, with " a magnanimous scrupulousness," 
rejected every defence of the Word of God by worldly weapons. 

§ 324. In the following spring, the emperor opened the splendid Diet 
of Augsburg. It was here that the ■proteslinfj Estates presented their 
Confession, which had been drawn up by Melancthon both in the German 
and Latin languages, and approved of by Luther. In this Confession, 
they endeavored to show that they had no wish tp establish a new Church, 
but only to purify and restore the old one. This Confession of faith, 
which was composed with great temperance and clearness, embraced, in 
the first part, the doctrines of the Reformers, laid down in as close accord- 
ance as was possible with the faith of the Catholic Church ; and in the 
second part, the abuses against which the Keformers were contending. 
After the i-eading of the Augsburg Confession, the assembly embra- 
ced the resolution of justifying the doctrines and usages of the Catholic 
Church by a refutation, and then seeing if it would not be possible to 
bring about a composition by a conference between men of moderate 
tempers selected from both parties. But the "Refutation," drawn up by 
Eckius, Cochlceus, and some others, produced but little eflPect, owing to 
the v.-eakness of its arguments, and was entirely overthi'own by Melanc- 
thon's " Apology ; " the conference also led to nothing, since both the 
pope and Luther, who, during the Diet, had remained at Coburg, were 
averse to any further concessions. It seemed that the unity of the Church 
could be only restored by the sword. The protesting princes and the 
principal imperial towns rejected the decision of the Diet, by which they 
were prohibited from extending their doctrine and were proscribed as a 
sect, and quitted Augsburg. The resolution of the Diet that was deter- 
mined on after their departure, in which the new sect was threatened 
Avith a rapid extirpation, and the sentence of excommunication denounced 
against all those who, within a certain space, should not renounce their 
arbitrary innovations, alarmed neither the princes, the peace of whose 
consciences was a matter of higher importance to them than the favor of 
the emperor, nor the reformer of Wittenberg, whose confidence and 
cheerful trust in God was at that time at its height, as is testified by the 
immortal hymn, " The Lord is a strong castle," which was composed 
during the storms of those days. 

d. ULRIC ZWINGLE. 

§ 325. The Protestant Church of Germany was unhappily, even at 
this time, divided into the Lutheran and Zwinglian. Ulric Zwingle (born 
1484), a classically-educated, liberally-minded priest of republican princi- 
ples, exerted himself zealously as canon of Zurich against the sale of 
indulgences by the Franciscan monk, Samson; against ecclesiastical 



216 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

abuses of all kinds ; and against the custom of the Swiss, of engaging 
themselves as mercenaries in foreign services. Zwingle, a man of prac- 
tical understanding, without the religious depth of mind or the disposition 
of Luther, did not busy himself with the reformation of doctrine and 
articles of faith, but with the improvement of life and morals. He set 
about the work also with ftir less ceremony, inasmuch as he wished to 
restore primitive Christianity in its simplest form. Having a good undei'- 
standing with the chief council of Zurich, he undertook a complete revo- 
lution of ecclesiastical doctrine and practice, banished all images, crosses, 
candles, altars, and organs, from the churches, and administered the 
Lord's Supper, in which he recognized nothing but a token of remem- 
brance and fellowship, after the manner of the early Christian love-feasts; 
that is, the communicants feceived the consecrated elements whilst sit- 
ting. This latter proceeding entangled Zwingle in a fatal controversy 
with Luther. Luther Avould not receive the words employed in institut- 
ting the sacrament, " this is my body," in the sense of " this represents 
my body," as Zwingle explained them, but asserted the bodily presence 
of Christ in the Lord's Supper. It was in vain that Philip of Hesse 
attempted to prevent this dangerous division by a disputation at Mar- 
burg. Luther saw a denial of Christ in the doctrine maintained by his 
opponent, and thrust back the brotherly hand that Zwingle offered him 
with tears. He also opposed himself to any union with the towns of 
Upper Germany which had adopted Zwingle's views, so that these pre- 
sented their own confession of faith to the Augsburg Diet. 

§ 325. The same disturbances succeeded the appearance of Zwingle 
in Switzerland as had followed that of Luther in Germany. In Zurich, 
Basle, Berne, in Schaffhausen, the Rhinethal, and other cantons, the 
Church was reformed according to the principles of Zwingle ; in Appen- 
zell, the Grisons, St. Gall, Glarus, and other places, the adherents of the 
old Church contended with those of the new ; but in the four forest can- 
tons (Schwitz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Lucerne), and in Zug, the Catholic 
faith remained predominant. This was occasioned, in addition to the in- 
fluence exercised on the simple inhabitants of these original cantons by 
the monks and clergy, by the circumstance that the engaging in foreign 
military services, a custom opposed by the Keformers, here formed one 
of the principal means of support. These five places concluded an alli- 
ance with Austria, and suppressed every innovation with a strong hand; 
whilst Berne and Zurich, on the other hand, afforded their assistance 
with uncharitable zeal and violence in the frontier towns of the Reform- 
ation. In this excited state of men's minds, a war was inevitable, particu- 
larly as Zv/ingle entertained the project of effecting such a political revo- 
lution in Switzerland as would give the supremacy to the two most power- 
ful cantons, Berne and Zurich. Mutual revilings of the clergy, which 
remained unpunished, increased the irritation and provoked hostilities. 



THE WARS OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 217 

Zurich and Berne blocked up the public roads, and prevented the trans- 
port of goods and of" the necessaries of life. This proceeding enraged the 
Catholic cantons. They made preparations in secret, and fell upon the 
people of Zurich. The latter, surprised, iri-esolute, and forsaken by the 
Bernese, marched with a troop of 2,000 men against an enemy of four 
times their number, but sustained a bloody defeat in the 
battle of Kappel. The courageous Zwingle, who had march- 
ed with them as field preacher, fell beside the banner of the city, and 
with him fell the staunchest friends of the Reformation. His dead body, 
after being exposed to the insults of the enraged multitude, was at length 
burnt and the ashes scattered to the winds. This event restored the old 
Church in many places that were favorably disposed to the Reformation, 
and was the occasion of the religious divisions that since that time have 
prevailed in Switzerland. 

2. THE WARS OF THE HOUSE OP HAPSBURG WITH FRANCE. 

Charles V § '^^^ ' Charles V. reigned over an empire such as had not 

A- D- existed since the days of Charlemagne. Bijfore arriving at 

years of maturity, he was already lord of the rich Nether- 
lands, which had devolved upon him as his paternal inheritance ; when a 
youth (after the death of his paternal grandfather, Ferdinand the Catho- 
lic), he obtained possession of the united Spanish empire, Avith the beau- 
tiful kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and the newly-discovered territories 
in America in the West Indies ; he inherited in early manhood the 
Hapsburgo-Austrian States (which he relinquished to his brother Fer- 
dinand), and became the successor of his grandfather, Maximilian, on the 
imperial throne of Germany, by the choice of the Electors. He might 
say with truth, that the sun never set in his dominions. He was a man 
of rare sagacity and indefatigable activity; great in the cabinet, as director 
of the affairs of state, and brave in the field, as leader of the ranks of 
war. His antagonist and rival was Francis I. of Fi-ance, Avho was as much 
renowned for his love of the arts and sciences, and for his chivalrous 
conduct in the field, as he was infamous for his tyranny, his luxury, and 
love of pleasure, and his devotion to his mistresses. An unextinguish- 
able jealousy subsisted between Francis and Charles. Each wished to 
be the first prince in Europe ; and each eagerly contested the possession 
of the imperial throne of Germany, which could alone procure him this 
supremacy. Charles triumphed, and from that moment Francis became his 
decided enemy, and sought every means of weakening his power. Four 
wars arose out of this contention, which were principally occasioned by 
Milan. This beautiful dukedom had remained in the hands of the French 
since the battle of Marignano (§ 286) ; but Charles claimed it as a fief 
of the German empire, and led a vast army, composed chiefly of German 
peasants, under the conduct of the valiant condottieri, Frundsberg, 

19 



218 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Scliartlin, and others, against the French and their allies, the Swiss. At 
that time, war was carried on with mercenary troops exclusively ; no 
nation could venture to oppose themselves to the Helvetians and Ger- 
mans ; the knightly tactics of an earlier period had fallen before their 
matchlocks, as the castles before their heavy artillery. The Fi-ench were 
conquered. They lost Milan and Genoa, after several bloody encoun- 
ters, and were forced to retreat over the Alps. It was during the retreat, 
that the gallant Bayard, " the knight without fear and without reproach," 
fell by a ball from a German arquebusier. The imperial army, conducted 
by the Constable of Bourbon, the richest and the most powerful of the 
French nobles, who had entered into Charles's service for the purpose 
of revenging his injuries and wrongs upon the French court, marched 
into the south of France, but soon found itself compelled to retreat by the 
gallant resistance of the burghers of Marseilles. 

§ 328. Francis I. himself now marched into Italy, at the head of a 
stately and well-appointed army, for the purpose of wiping off the dis- 
grace of the defeat, and winning back that which liad been lost. But 
being detained for a long time before the walls of Pavia, the active Bour- 
bon succeeded in collecting a fresh army of peasants, and uniting himself 
with the Spanish general, Pescara. But want of money and the neces- 
saries of life soon reduced the united forces to the greatest distress, whilst 
the wealthy camp of the French was abundantly supplied with every 
thing needful. Bourbon and Frundsberg took advantage of this circum- 
stance to excite the peasants to attempt the storm of the French camp. 
The bloody fio;ht of Pavia, in which the French were de- 

A. D. 1525. 

feated, originated in a nocturnal attack. Francis I. himself, 
after a chivah-ous defence, was compelled to surrender, and to proceed 
as a prisoner to Madrid. 10,000 gallant warriors found their deaths on 
the field of battle, or in the waters of the Ticino. After a year's captivity, 
Francis, with inward reluctance, consented to the Peace of Madrid, in 
which he swore to renounce his claims upon Milan, and to surrender the 
dukedom of Burgundy. 

' Scarcely, however, had Francis, after giving up his two sons as host- 
ages, regained his own kingdom, than the pope released him from his 
oath, and concluded a holy alliance with him, the king of England, and 
some Italian princes, for the purpose of delivering Italy from the Span- 
ish yoke. The flames of war burst forth anew in Italy ; the beat of the 
drum was again heard in the German states to summon the peasants to 
the standard. As this was an expedition against the pope, the Lutherans 
came forward in crowds, so that the brave Frundsberg was soon enabled 
to lead a gallant army across the Alps, and to unite himself with Bour- 
bon. But money was soon wanting to pay the troops ; a rebellion in the 
army gave such a shock to Frundsberg that he was deprived of speech 
by an attack of apoplexy, and shortly after lost his life. The troops de- 



THE WARS OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 219 

manded to be led to Rome, and Bourbon yielded to their wishes. It was 
on the 6th of May, 1527, that the Spanish and German soldiers scaled 
the walls of Rome. Bourbon was one of the first who fell. The licen- 
tious bands, unchecked by the presence of a leader, dispersed themselves 
through the city and committed every sort of outrage. The rich palaces 
and dwelling-houses were plundered, the churches robbed of their ves- 
sels and ornaments ; the Germans insulted the pope and cardinals by 
ridiculous processions and mummeries. Clement was obliged to purchase 
his freedom under harsh conditions, and made us& of the first opportunity 
to escape. The emperor affected a display of grief and displeasure at 
the injuries suffered by the head of the Church, though inwardly pleased 
at his humiliation. 

In the meanwhile, the French had made some conq.uests in upper 
Italy, and then marched into Naples, for the purpose of wu'esting this 
kingdom from the Spaniards. But their army suffering severely from 
pestilence, and the troops of the em^jeror being reduced one half by their 
excesses in Rome, both parties became desirous of peace. The contend- 
ing kings arranged their differences by the interposition of the mother of 
Francis and the aunt of Charles, in what was called the 
Ladies' Peace of Cambray ; in virtue of which, Francis re- 
linquished his pi*etensions to Milan, and paid two million crowns for the 
ransom of his two sons, but retained possession of Burgundy. The pope 
also, and the Italian princes, soon made their peace. Charles was 
invested with the Roman and Lombard crowns by Clement, who lived 
with him in Bologna under the same roof, and promised, in return, to 
exterminate heresy, and to bring back the expelled Medici to Florence. 
The latter project was accomplished ; Florence was conquered and de- 
prived of its republican constitution (§ 289). But the restoration of the 
unity of the Church was no longer in the power of man. The Diet of 
Augsburg, that was appointed for this purpose, did not conduce to the 
desired result (§ 324). 

§ 329. Francis, however, did not relinquish the thought of again 
recovering the dukedom of Milan, and even entered into an alliance with 
the Turks a short time after, for the purpose of attaining this object. 
In the same year in which Charles took Tunis by a gallant attack, 

v D 1535 ^^^ ^^^ ^"^^ ^^ ^^^^ piracies of the Mohammedan prince, Hay- 
raddin Barbarossa, and set 20,000 Christian captives at 
liberty, Francis made a sudden campaign into upper Italy, and took pos- 
session, as a preliminary step, of Savoy and Piedmont, the duke of which 
was a relative and ally of Charles. But in the following year, Charles 
marched with a stately army into Provence, for the purpose of carrying 
the war into his enemy's own territory ; but was compelled to retreat 
with loss, in consequence of the French general, the Constable Mont- 
morenci, reducing the whole of the level country between the Rhone and 



220 THE MODERN EPOCH, 

the passes of the Alps to a desert, and thus producing scarcity and 
disease in the emperor's army. But as the whole of Christendom was 
indignant at the alliance between Francis and the Ottomans, who com- 
mitted hori'ible devastations in lower Italy and the Greek islands, Pope 
Paul III. interposed as a mediator, and brought about the 
. " ' '^'^'" conclusion of the third war by the ten years' truce of Nice, 
which allowed every one to retain that of which he was then in posses- 
sion. A personal interview between the two monarchs was to have obli- 
terated all their differences forever; and Charles was so 
convinced of the knightly faith of his .rival, that, in the fol- 
lowing year, when an insurrection in Ghent required his immediate pre- 
sence in the Netherlands, he took his road thither through Paris. But this 
friendship was not of long duration. In the year 15il, Charles undertook 
a second African expedition, for the purpose of completely 
destroying the corsairs, who rendered the Mediterranean 
insecure from Algiers, as they had formerly done from Tunis. But this 
time, the attack was frustrated by the storms and rains of the later 
autumn, and by the attacks of the enemy, which were rendered particu- 
larly dangerous by the swampy character of the ground. The emperor, 
who magnanimously shared all the dangers and sufferings of the meanest 
of his followers, was obliged to retreat without effecting his object, after 
suffering a considerable loss in ships and troops. This termination of the 
enterprise may have filled the French king with the hope that he might 
at length be able to overpower his adversary. He, therefore, after effecting 
A. D. ^1^ alliance with the sultan, commenced a fourth war against 

1542-1544. the empei'or. But when the latter marched with a vast 
army out of Germany into Champagne, and approached within two days' 
march of the terrified capital, Francis hastened to conclude 
the peace of Crespy. From this time, the supremacy of 
the house of Hapsburg in Italy remained undisputed. Francis I. died 
Henrv H three yeai's afterwards, but his son and successor, Henry II., 

A. T>. followed the same path. During the war of rehgion in Ger- 

lo47-l5o9. many, he entered into an alliance with the Protestant princes 
(§ 337), whilst in his own dominions he suppressed the new doctrines by 
bloody persequtions. When Charles V. at length quitted the world's stage, 
the war was still continued for a few years between his son, Philip II., 
and the Fi'ench king, till at length the peace of Chateau- 

A. D. 1559. , o 1 

Cambresis put an end to the open contest between the two 
monarchs, without, however, extinguishing the hereditary animosity 
between the royal houses of France and Hapsburg. 

3. THE WAK OF RELIGION IN GERMANY. 

§ 330. This war, and the apprehensions that were entertained of the 
Turks, who led army after army into the Austrian territories, prevented 



THE WAR OF RELIGION IN GERMANY. 221 

the emperor from putting into effect the resolution of the Diet of Augs- 
burg against the German Protestants, and compelling them by force to 
return to the bosom of the Catholic Church. When, in consequence of 
this order, the imperial chamber began to proceed against the evangelical 
states on account of their confiscation of ecclesiastical property, the Lu- 
theran princes and cities, under the conduct of the Elector of Saxony and 
the landsrrave of Hesse, formed themselves into a league at 
Smalcald, in the Thuringian forest, for their mutual defence 
in case any of them should be attacked for the word of God's sake. In 
the following year, the emperor concluded the peace of Nuremberg with 
this league, in which both parties promised to refrain from hostilities till 
a Council of the Church, the calling of which was vehemently urged 
upon Clement VII. by the emperor, should be assembled. The law pro- 
ceedings were, in the mean time, to cease. This treaty bound the hands 
of the Protestants, without giving them any assurance for the future ; but 
afforded great facilities for the diffusion of the Gospel over the whole of 
Germany. The introduction of the Lutheran form of worship into "Wir- 
temberg was an event of the greatest importance. Duke Ulrick, a hasty- 
tempered and cruel man, who, from motives of jealousy, had slain a 
knight of his court (Hans von Hutten) with his own hand, had compelled 
his wife to take flight by his bad treatment, had ojipressed his subjects 
and conquered the imperial city of Reutlingen, was at length outlawed 
for disturbing the peace of the country, and driven from his land and 
vassals by the Swabian league. For fourteen years, Ulrick was com- 
pelled to lead a wandering life abroad, and to shun his dukedom, which, 
in the mean time, was placed under the government of Austria, when the 
landgrave Philip of Hesse embraced the resolution of restoring to "Wir- 
temberg the duke, who was then living at his court. He marched into 
Swabia with a well-appointed army, defeated the Austrian governor at 
Laufen on the Neckar, and reestablished the lawful ruler. Ulrick was 
received with joy by his people, who had forgotten his former tyranny, 
and who were easily induced to receive the evangelical doctrines which 
Ulrick had adopted in his misfortunes, and which he now had dissemi- 
nated by Brenz and Schnepf. The Church in Wirte.mberg soon became 
Lutheran, and Tubingen was one of the most distinguished seminaries of 
evangelical learnino;. 

§ 331. But the new Church was not wanting in spui'ious growths. 
The doctrine of the Anabaptists, who mistook their own passions for 
divine inspirations, had not been suppressed by the death of Thomas 
Miinzer (§ 322.) Notwithstanding the opposition of the Reformers and 
the discouragement given by every lawful magistrate, it would re-appear 
here and there, in places where it had been secretly carried by fugitives. 
The doctrines of these Anabaptists displayed themselves in their most 
frightful shape in Munster. It was in this place that the Reformation 

19* 



222 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

had made violent way for itself, and had compelled the bishop and canons 
to take flight. But it soon became evident that Rottman, the most influ- 
ential of its preachers, entertained Anabaptist notions. When two vaga- 
bond prophets from the Netherlands, Jan Matthys and his countryman 
and disciple, the tailor, John Bockhold (called John of Leyden,) joined 
themselves to him, the Anabaptist party in a short time attained so com- 
plete a supremacy, that they got possession of all the city offices, drove 
all the inhabitants who were not of their own way of thinking out of the 
town in the midst of winter, and divided their property among them- 
selves. They now established a religious commonwealth, in which 
Matthys possessed unlimited power, introduced community of goods, and 
conducted the defence of the city against the besieging army of the bishop 
of Munster. The fanaticism rose to its height when Matthys was killed 
in a sally against the enemy, and Bockold was placed at the head of the 
commonwealth. This man transferred the government of the city to 
twelve elders, whom he selected from the most violent of the fanatics, 
and among whom, Kni^pper doling, who was burgomaster and executioner, 
played the most distinguished ])art. He then introduced the practice of 
polygamy, and mercilessly put to death those who indignantly denounced 
this outrage to Christian morality. When this crazy fanaticism had 
reached its highest pitch, the prophet assumed the title (from Divine 
inspiration) of " King of the New Israel." This " tailor king," orna- 
mented Avith the insignia of his rank (a crown and a globe suspended by 
a golden chain), and magnificently clothed, held his sittings for the ad- 
ministration of justice in the market-place of Munster, where the '' chair 
of David" was set up, and inti'oduced a government of mixed tyranny 
and fanaticism, in which spiritual pride and carnal lust were most repul- 
sively associated. 

For a long time, the Anabaptists resisted the attacks of their imper- 
fectly armed enemies with courage and success ; when the besieging 
army had been reinforced by the empire, and the closely pressed town 
began to suffer the horrors of famine, they still resolutely maintained 
their defence ; and even when the enemy were within their walls, they 
still resisted with the courage ' of desperation. Rottman fell fighting ; 
John of Leyden and Knipperdoling were put to death by torture, and 
their dead bodies suspended in iron cages on the tower ; the others were 
either executed or expelled the city. The bishop, the canons, and the 
nobility, returned and introduced Catholicism again in all its rigor, which 
since that time has retained its preeminence in Munster. 

After a few decenniums, the Anabaptists experienced a wholesome 
reformation of their doctrines and discipline from Menno, in which they 
have continued to the present day, under the name of Mennonites. They 
are still distinguished by simplicity of dress and manner of living, by 
their rejection of a separate priesthood, of infant baptism, of oaths, of 



THE WAR OP RELIGION IN GERMANY. 223 

% 

military service, &c. ; but they have given up those principles of an ear- 
lier period which were dangerous to morality and the state. They lead 
a quiet life as tenant farmers and peasants. 

§ 332. Shortly after this, the Reformed doctrines gained admission into 
the duchy of Saxony and the electorate of Brandenburg, by the death 
of two princes who had hitherto clung resolutely to the Roman Catholic 
creed. Duke George of Saxony was followed by his brother 
Henry, who, like his son Maurice, was devoted to the Refor- 
mation, and ordered the Reformed worship to be established in Leipsic, 
Meissen, and Dresden. In the same year, Joachim II. received the 
Lord's Supper under both forms in Spandau, upon which the country 
embraced the Protestant doctrine. The conversion of Saxony and 
Brandenburg was decisive for the whole north of Germany. Henry of 
Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel, a cruel and profligate man, alone adhered to the 
ancient Church, less from conviction than from animosity to the landgrave 
of Hesse, the former friend of his youth. But the Gospel triumphed even 
in Wolfenbiittel, when, after a furious controversy, injurious alike to the 
dignity of princes and human nature, Henry was overpowered by Hes- 
sian and Saxon troops and carried into captivity. Otho Heinreich order, 
ed the Lutheran doctrines to be taught in the Upper Palatinate, by the 
Nuremburger preacher, Osiander ; and a few weeks before Luther's 
deatii, the Eucharist Avas administered in both forms in the Palatinate of 
the Rhine, after the congregation which assembled on the 3d of January 
to hear mass, in the Church of the Holy Ghost, had set up the evangeli- 
cal hymn, " Salvation hath visited us." Baden Durlach also acknow- 
ledged the Reformed confession ; and when the Elector, Hermann of 
Cologne, proposed a moderate plan of reformation to his Estates, and the 
duke of Cleves appeared inclined to join the league of Smalcald, it seem- 
ed that the Catholic Church of Germany must succumb, unless a stop 
were put to the progress of the Reformation by force. The emperor 
was convinced that neither Diets nor religious discussions could heal the 
division in the Church ; his hopes rested entirely on the general Council, 
which Pope Paul III. had summoned at Trent. But the Protestants, 
who foresaw that their doctrines would be condemned in a Council that 
was thus held under the authority of the pope, rejected it, as being nei- 
ther free nor impartial, and demanded a general Synod of the Church 
of Germany. This destroyed the emperor's last hope of an amica- 
ble arrangement, and determined him to attempt the restoration of 
Luther dies, the Church by force of arms. One year after Luther's 
Feb. 18th, death, at his native city of Eisleben, whither he had been 
^^^^- summoned to compose a difference, the war of Smalcald 

broke out between Charles V. and the Protestant princes and cities of 
Germany. 

§ 333. When the emperor had determined upon war, he entered into a 



224 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

secret alliance with the pope, who promised him subsidies of money, 
with the spiritual Electors, and with the duke of Bavaria ; but he found 
the most important of his allies in the Protestant duke, Maurice of Saxo- 
ny. This young, shrewd, and military prince, who, since 1541, had been 
the ruler of Albertine Saxony, had long separated himself from the 
league of Smalcald and joined the emperor, out of envy and hatred to 
his cousin, John Frederick, although Philip of Hesse was his father-in- 
law. This alliance was again renewed. Maurice promised obedience 
and devotion to the emperor, and submission to the resolutions of the 
Tridentine Council, provided it gave its sanction to the three chief points 
in the Protestant view, — justification by faith, the cup, and the marriage 
of the clergy. Charles, in return, held out the prospect of an increase 
of his territories and the electorship of Saxony. The Protestants had so 
little suspicion of this arrangement, that when the Smalcald forces march- 
ed into the field, the Elector, during his absence with the army, made' 
over the government of Courland to his cousin Maurice. The brave 
Schartlin, whom the Upper German cities had chosen general, wished to 
bring matters to a conclusion, by making a rapid advance upon Regens- 
burg, where the empei'or was posted v/ith a handful of troops ; but the 
council of war, fearful of doing injury to Bavaria, forbade the enter- 
prise. Upon this, Schartlin turned towards Tyrol, with the purpose of 
cutting off the advance of the Italian troops, or of dispersing the Coun- 
cil of Trent ; — but this undertaking was also disapproved of, lest Ferdi- 
nand should be offended. In this manner, Charles, who had alread}^^ 
pronounced the ban against the Electors and landgraves for treason 
against the emperor and the empire, gained time to draw his auxiliaries 
from Italy, and to occupy a strong position at Ingolstadt. Here, also, 
the Protestants threw away the time in trifling and useless encounters, 
till the troops of the Netherlands having united themselves to the impe- 
rial army, Charles was in a position to assume the offensive. He march- 
ed into Swabia, whither he was followed by the army of Smalcald. The 
damp and cold weather occasioned sickness among the Spanish and 
Italian troops, and afforded the Protestants a hope of effecting a favora- 
ble composition, when the intelligence that Maurice and his friends and 
companions in the faith had proved traitors, and had marched an hostile 
army into Courland, changed the whole face of affairs. John Frederick 
at once hastened back to his states ; the landgrave and the other leaders 
soon returned, and in a short time the whole army of Smalcald was dis- 
solved. 

§ ooi. South Germany now stood open to the emperor. Well-inten- 
tioned advisers endeavored to persuade him to allow free toleration to re- 
ligious opinions, and by this means to bring back his estates to their 
former obedience and devotion. But Charles was bent upon bringing 
back the unity of the Church, and, at the same time, on restoring the 



THE WAR or RELIGION IN GERMANY. 225 

imperial authority to its ancient dignity. With this object, he required 
the princes and cities of southern Germany to submit themselves, and to 
renounce the league of Smalcald. The terrified imperial cities soon 
yielded obedience to the demand. Ulm surrendered her artillery, and 
purchased the favor of the emperor by large sums of money ; Heilbron, 
Esslingen, lleutlingen, and many others, did the same. Augsburg was 
so well provided with artillery and provisions, that Schartlin offered the 
magistrates to defend it for a year and a day, till Protestant Germany 
should have recovered itself and be prepared for fresh encounters; but 
the pusillanimous council of traders (Fugger, in pai'ticular) gained the 
victory. Tiie emperor took possession of the town, and with it, the ad- 
mirable artillery and a large sum of money. Frankfort and Strasburg 
soon followed. The old duke of Wirtemberg humbled himself, paid his 
contributions to the war, and surrendered his most important fortresses 
fa 'the imperial troops. The old Elector of Cologne, anathematized by 
the pope, threatened by the Spanish troops, and at last abandoned by his 
estates, renounced his office in favor of a follower of the old creed, who 
soon thrust aside by the mass the German worship of God. By the 
spring of 1547, the whole of southern Germany was reduced to obedi- 
ence without a blow being struck. 

§ 335. In the mean time, John Frederick had repulsed the troops of 
Maurice, taken possession of his own territories with but little trouble, 
and conquered the greater part of Albertine Saxony, as far as Dresden 
and Leipsic. "Wherever he Avent, he was received with acclamations 
by the Protestant part of the population, and it would not have been 
difficult for him to collect a considerable force, and to bid defiance 
to the enemies of the evangelical doctrines ; but John Frederick 
was not an enterprising man, and despite the ban, respect for the em- 
peror was not yet extinguished in his pious heart ; — he rejected the 
proffered aid. Maurice in his need invoked the assistance of the empe- 
ror. The latter hastened with his army into Bavaria, in defiance of the 
gout, and, uniting his forces with those of Maurice and Ferdinand, 
marched against his enemy, who was posted on the Elbe with 6000 men. 
Upon the approach of the emperor, John Frederick wished to fall back 
upon the strong town of "Wittemberg, until he could collect the scattered 
divisions of his army ; but the imperial force, 27,000 strong, crossed the 
Elbe under the guidance of a peasant, surprised the cavalry, who were 
engaged in a retreat, on a Sunday morning, when the Elector was attend- 
ing Divine worship, and won an easy victory in the battle of Miihlberg. 
John Frederick, a heavy man, was wounded in the face and taken pri- 
soner after a brave defence. In prison, he displayed the serenity of soul 
which is the fruit of a good conscience and a firm trust in God. He 
heard the sentence of death that was pronounced upon him by the empe- 
ror with the greatest composure, and without even interrupting the game 



226 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

of cliess in which he was engaged. But Charles did not venture to carry 
the sentence into execution. He proposed to cliange the punishment of 
death into that of imprisonment for life, upon condition that John Frede- 
rick should give up his fortresses to the emperor, and surrender his terri- 
tories, together with the electoral dignity, to Maurice. In this manner, 
the electorship of Saxony passed from the line of Ernest to that of 
Albert. 

It was now the turn of the landgrave of Hesse to be punished. Mau- 
rice and Joachim of Brandenburg interceded for him, and obtained the 
assurance, " that if he would make an unconditional surrender, apolo- 
gize for his proceedings, and deliver up his castles, he should be punished 
neither with death nor with'perpetual imprisonment." These conditions 
w^ere afterwards modified during a personal interview, and the two princes 
assured the landgrave of the safety of his person and possessions. In 
reliance on this assui'ance, Philip, provided with a safe conduct, present- 
ed himself at Halle, where the imperial camp was posted. It was here 
that, after having asked pardon on his knees in the midst of a magnifi- 
cent assembly, he was invited to supper by the duke of Alba, and on 
going to the castle, was retained prisoner in spite of all objections. The 
emperor could not deny himself the triumph of having his two greatest 
opponents in his power. He shortly afterwards left Saxony, and took 
his prisoners with him. This proceeding was the first occasion of a cool- 
ness between Maurice and the emperor. 

§ 33 G. In the meanwhile, the Council of Trent, which w^as opened on 
the 13th of December, 1545, had held its first deliberations. But as the 
proceedings were carried on under the guidance of the papal legates, and 
the chief part of the assembly consisted of the regular clergy and the 
uncompromising adherents of the pope, the resolutions assumed such a 
shape that the Protestants saw in them rather a widening of the pre- 
vious divisions, than any approach to a reconciliation. This course was 
highly displeasing to the emperor, who hoped now to have brought about 
that unity of faith which had so long been wished for ; he remonstrated, 
and wished the resolutions to be kept secret, as he had just brought the 
Protestant Estates to promise that they would submit themselves to the 
Council, if the points already determined upon might be reconsidered. 
But Paul in., Avho saw clearly that the emperor cherished the wish of 
limiting the power of the pope, and of inti'oducing such reforms into the 
Catholic Church that the Protestants should no longer hesitate to join her 
communion, not only allowed the resolutions to become known, but re- 
moved the Council to Bologna. The emperor was extremely irritated 
at this ; he forbade the clergy to leave Trent, but could only retain the 
smaller number, and for the purpose of paving the way to a reunion of 
the Church in Germany, he proclaimed an edict, which set forth how 
matters should be conducted until the termination of the Council. This 



THE WAR OF RELIGION IN GERMANY. 227 

was done by the Augsburg Interim ; which, at first designed for both 
religious parties, was afterwards resti'ieted to the Protestants. By tliis 
instrument, the use of the cup and the marriage of priests were per- 
mitted to the confessors of the evangelical Church ; an attempt was made 
to approach their opinions on the doctrines of justification, the mass, &c., 
by the use of indefinite modes of expression ; but in the celebration of 
Divine worship and in the ceremonies, the old usages were retained. 
This Interim met with great opposition, less from the Protestant princes, 
than from the towns and preachers. The latter could not be prevailed 
upon to receive a religion that was oflfensive to their consciences, either 
by deprivation of their offices or by loss of their property or freedom. 
Driven from their posts, they left their homes and household hearths to 
fly by secret paths to the north of Germany, where the Interim was 
utterly rejected. Neaidy 400 preachers became exiles ; Magdeburg, 
which was under the ban, afforded an asylum to the greater number. In 
Saxony, also, the cradle of the Reformation, many preachers fled, from 
dislike to the Leipsic Interim, by the composition of which Melancthon 
incurred the chartre of weakness and want of courage. A multitude of 
pamphlets, satires, satii'ical poems, and wood-cuts, proceeded from Magde- 
burg, which were intended to bring down hatred and contempt upon the 
Interim and its originators. 

§ 337. At the moment when the emperor believed himself to be on 
the point of attaining the object of his wishes ; when the Council had 
been again removed to Trent, and even attended by some of the Pro- 
testant Estates ; when every circumstance seemed to combine to raise 
him to the position of temporal head of Christendom, in the sense in 
which the term was understood in the middle ages; when he already cher- 
ished the thought of having his son elected as his successor, and thus 
rendering the imperial throne hereditary in his family, — he suddenly 
found an unexpected opponent in the man to whom he had been hitherto 
indebted for his triumphs, — in Maurice of Saxony. This sagacious 
prince saw plainly in what a perilous position the civil and religious liber- 
ties of Germany would stand, if Charles should conduct his plans to a 
successful issue ; he saw clearly that he had incurred the hate of all Pro- 
testants by his treachery to the common cause, since he had undertaken, 
in the name of the emperor, to prosecute the ban against Magdeburg, 
and had already commenced the siege of the city, where alone the pure 
word of the Gospel had found an asylum. He could only restore his 
lost reputation by a great and daring action. He concluded a secret alli- 
ance with several German princes, and assured himself of the aid of the 
French king, Henry II., by a treaty, in virtue of which the latter was 
permitted to occupy the towns of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, without 
infringement of the rights of the empire. The chivalrous margrave, 
Albert of Brandenburg Culnbach, conducted the negotiation. Upon this, 



228 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Maurice granted pardon and the free exercise of religion to Magdeburg, 
■wliich immediately submitted. Warnings were sent to the emperor, who 
was at that time in Innsbruck ; but Maurice, who was a master in the art 
of deception, knew how to dissipate all suspicions as they ai'ose in his 
mind, and Charles, who was practised in the intrigues of Spain and Italv, 
thought it impossible that he should be outwitted by a German. Maurice 
suddenly advanced with three divisions of his army into the 
south, took possession of Augsburg, and Tuarched into the 
Tyrol. He was already approaching Innsbruck with the purpose of mak- 
ing the emperor prisoner, when a mutiny among the German peasants 
afforded the latter an opportunity for escape. The Tridentine Council 
was broken up in confusion, and Charles, after setting the imprisoned 
Elector, John Frederick, at liberty, fled during the night, ill with the 
gout and disheartened, over the snow-covered mountains of the Tyrol 
into Carinthia; leaving to his brother Ferdinand the difficult task of 
establishing peace. Ferdinand immediately concluded the treaty of 
Passau with the Protestant princes, by which unconditional religious 
liberty Avas granted to the adherents of the Augsburg Confession, the 
Interim was abolished, the Protestants were declared independent of the 
Council of Trent, and the landgrave of Hesse was set at liberty. A per- 
manent peace and amnesty was at the same time decided upon. 

§ 338. The treaty of Passau was the last work of Maurice. When 
his former confederate, Albert of Brandenburg, refused to accede to it, 

and continued his wars and robberies in Lower Saxony, 
A. D. 1553. -,^ . , 1 . , . 11. » 

Maurice marched agamst him to compel him to peace. A 

battle was fought near Sivershausen. The active Maurice was victo- 
rious, but he received a gun-shot wound in the wild confusion of the bat- 
tle, of which he died two days after, in the flower of his manly strength. 
He was a man of rare qualities, " prudent and secret, enterprising and 
energetic." Two years after his death, the Religious Peace of Augs- 
burg was concluded, by which the Protestant Estates who followed the 
Augsburg Confession were not only assured of full liberty of conscience 
and religion, but also of political rights equal to those enjoyed by the 
Catholics, and the continued possession of the confiscated ecclesiastical 
property. A free right of departure was permitted to subjects who did 
not follow the religion of the Electors ; and a free toleration for those 
that remained.^ The demand made by the adherents of the ancient faith, 
that, in future, those of the clergy who should join the new Church should 
lose their incomes and offices, occasioned the most vehement disputes. 
As it was impossible to come to an agreement, the point Avas left unde- 
cided, and admitted as a spiritual reservation into the laws of peace — 
" a seed of bloody contests." 

§ 339. This religious peacs frustrated the most zealous attempts of the 
emperor to restore the unity of the Church, and deprived him of the 



PROGKESS OF THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 229 

interest he had hitherto taken in the affairs of the world. Oppressed 
with discontent and bodily suffering, he embraced the resolution of re- 
nouncing his government, and of passing the remainder of his days in 
quiet retirement and monastic penance. With this object, he made over 
to his son Philip, at a solemn assembly at Brussels, first, the Nether- 
lands, and a short time after, the kingdoms of Spain and Naples, to- 
gether with the New World ; he committed the government of 
the Austrian states and the affairs of Germany, however, to his brother 
Ferdinand. After this, he retired to the west of Spain, where 
he had had a residence built near the convent of St. Juste, on the 
pleasant declivity of a hill, surrounded by plantations of trees. He lived 
here for two years in quiet retirement, busied with the practices of reli- 
gion and with pious contemplation. In the mean time, Frederick I. 
received the imperial throne of Germany by the election of the princes, 
after he had pledged himself to observe the Peace of Eeligion, — an en- 
gagement he honestly fulfilled. 

4. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 
a. LUTHERANISJI AND CALVINISM. 

§ 340. The greatest divisions arose in Germany, where the move- 
ments in the Church had taken their origin, in consequence of the Re- 
formation. The Lutheran form of worship strove long with the Catholic 
for the mastery. The former extended itself gradually from Saxony and 
Hesse over the neighboring countries, acquii-ed the supremacy in north- 
ern Germany, made triumphant pi-ogress in Swabia and Franconia, and 
opened itself a path from Strasburg into Alsacia and Lorraine. The 
doctrines of Luther had penetrated at an early pei'iod to the Vistula and 
the shores of the Baltic, where the Grand Master of the German Order 
(§ 227), Albert of Brandenburg, pressed upon by the Poles and deserted 
by the emperor and empire, had joined the evangelical Church, converted 
Prussia into an hereditary dukedom, and acknowledged the suzerainship 
of Poland. The same thing happened in Courland and Livonia, with 
the Head of the Order of the Sword. The Catholic form of worship 
found its most zealous partisans in the dukes of Bavaria, in the royal 
house of Austria, in the spiritual Electors, and in the prince-bishops. In- 
golstadt was an active seminary for the ancient faith. Nevertheless, as 
the two emperors, Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II., both disdained to do 
violence to the consciences of their subjects, the evangelical doctrines 
soon obtained numerous adherents in the hereditary possessions of Aus- 
tria. The Protestants obtained religious toleration for themselves, and 
built several churches in the archduchy of Austria, in Carinthia, and 
Styria. In Hungary and Transylvania, the Reformation made such pro- 
gress that the evangelical party outnumbered their opponents, and obtain- 
ed religious freedom and equal political rights with the Catholics. In Bo- 

20 



230' THE MODERN EPOCH. 

hernia, the old Hussites (Utraquists) mostly embraced the Lutheran doc- 
trines. But numerous as were the treaties that guaranteed the rights of 
Protestants in the Austrian dominions, they were disregarded by later 
rulers, who restored the Catholic State Church to the preeminence. 

The Reformed Church that originated in Switzerland, al^o found its 
way into Germany at an early period. It is true that the doctrines of 
Zwingle were only received and maintained by a few towns in the south 
of Germany ; but when Calvin, in Geneva, seized upon the principles 
of Zwingle, and fashioned them into a complete system of doctrine by 
uniting them with his own views, the reformed Church in Germany gain- 
ed a constant succession of adherents. Frederick III. introduced this 
system into his own land from the Palatinate, and ordered Ursinus and 

Olevianus to draw up the Heidelber"; Catechism, a widely 
A. D. 1559. ^ '^ i J 

extended compendium of Calvin's doctrine ; the same thing 
happened in Hesse, Bremen, and Brandenburg. Even Melancthon and his 
disciples (Philippists, and Cryptocalvinists) were convinced in their hearts 
of the truth of Calvin's views. The former so embittered the evening 
of his life by promulgating these opinions, that he sank into his grave 
,,„„ calumniated and full of sorrow, and his disciples brought 

A. T>. 1560. ... f o 

persecution and imprisonment upon themselves in Saxony. 
The Form of Concord, a confession of faith that was subscribed, about 
1580, by ninety-six of the Lutheran Estates of the empire, was intended 
to restore harmony among the German Protestants ; but it merely con- 
firmed the division between the Calvinists and Lutherans, and increased 
the unhappy animosity of one party against the other. 

§ 34L Switzerland also received evangelical confessions of faith, as 
well as the Catholic doctrines ; only the system of Zwingle, that was re- 
ceived in the greater German cantons (§ 326), differed less from the 
doctrine of Calvin Avhich was predominant in French Switzerland, than 
it did from that of Luther. John Calvin, a learned refugee from France, 
introduced the Reformation and the confederation into Geneva, a 
town delightfully situated on the frontiers of Savoy and 
France, and then, like the lawgivers of antiquity, he exer- 
cised the greatest influence on the government, the religion, the manners, 
and the education of the city, till his death in 15G4. Calvin was a man 
of great intellect and moral power ; severe to others and to himself, and 
hostile to all worldly enjoyments, ' — he acquired a command over men by 
the revere^ice that was due to his strong and pure will. The doctrine of 
Calvin is impressed with the character of its originator, — severity and 
simpljpity. In matters of faith, he adheres to Zwingle only so far as the 
latter embraces the severe views of Augustine (§ 174), and holds that 
men are incapable of doing good by their own wills. Calvin, like Zwin- 
gle, goes back to the primitive apostolic times, and commands the great- 
est simphcity in ceremonies and forms of worship. Images, ornaments. 



PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 231 

organs, candles, crucifixes, all are banished from the churches ; the ser- 
vice consists in prayer, preaching, and the singing of psalms, which Cal- 
vin's faithful fellow-minister, Theodore Beza, had translated into French ; 
there is no church feast except the rigorously observed Sunday (Sab- 
bath). The constitution of the Calvinistic Church is a republican syno- 
dial government. The congregation, represented by freely elected elders 
(presbytery), exercises the power of the Church, chooses the ministers, 
watches over morals by means of the elders, administers the discipline 
and punishments of the Church, and the distribution of alms. The min- 
isters and a portion of the elders constitute the synod, whence the coun- 
try churches receive their laws. Their severity of morals occasionally 
induced the Calvinists to wage war against lawful amusements, such as 
the theatre, dancing, and the more refined pleasures of society ; for this 
reason, their doctrines found less acceptance among the higher than in 
the middle classes. 

§ 342. The Calvinistic doctrines extended themselves from Geneva 
„ over the flourishing towns of southern France, where they 

soon numbered so many adherents that they were able to 
wage war for many years with the dominant Church. The French court 
was for some time hesitating which form of religion it should adopt ; 
political motives swayed the decision in favor of the Catholic Church. 
Commands Avere now issued against " the so-called reformed religion," 
Calvinistic ministers were given over to the flames, and an attempt was 
made to prevent the diffusion of their doctrine by persecution and pun- 
ishment. Calvinism penetrated into the Netherlands from 
France and Switzerland, where, after many struggles, it be- 
came victorious in the northern provinces (Holland). At the synod of 
Dort (a. d. 1618), the views of the Arminians, who wished to give a 
milder form to Calvin's severe doctrine of predestination, were condemn- 
ed, and the Augustine doctrine of election maintained. The chiefs of 
the Arminians, particularly the deserving statesman, (Van Olden Barn- 
veldt), and the distinguished historian, Hugo Grotius, were punished, the 

one by death, the other by imprisonment (§ 360). In Scot- 
Scotland. , , , ,.,-,. , ■, , , 
land, the evangelical doctrmes were long suppressed by the 

court and the clergy, and many courageous confessors perished in the 

flames. The regent, Mary of Guise, sprung from a French family, 

which was zealously devoted to the Romish Church, in conjunction Avith 

Cardinal Beaton, suppressed the innovators by severity. But Avhen the 

cardinal had fallen in his own house beneath the blows of a troop of 

conspirators, and the regent had died after a three years' contest with 

the people who were striving for the Gospel, the rude preacher, John 

Knox, Avho had known Calvin in Geneva, succeeded in rendering the 

Reformed doctrines triumphant. The doctrines, the form of worship, 

and the synodial constitution of the Calvinistic Church, were introduced 



232 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

into Scotland by a resolution of the parliament, the mass foi-bidden as 
idolatrous, under penalty of fine and death, and the goods of the Cliurch 
confiscated. Monasteries, cathedrals, and treasures of art were destroy- 
ed with a blind fury. At a later period, the Scottish Church received 
the name of Presbyterian, from its assemblies. In England, similar 
principles, entertained by the Puritans, succumbed to the power of the 
High Church ; but they were diffused by numerous sects, and received 
their fullest development on the free shores of North America. 

h. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. 

§ 343. In England, the disciples of Luther were at first bloodily per- 
secuted, and King Henry VIII. obtained such favor with the court of 
Rome, by a learned controversial work against Luther on the subject of 
the seven sacraments, that it conferred upon him the title of Defender 
H • Vin ^^ ^^^® Faith. But Henry's attachment to the pope was con- 
A. D. verted into hatred when Clement VII. refused to separate 

1509-1547. Yum. from his Spanish wife, Catherine, an aunt of the em- 
peror Charles V. Some internal scruples respecting the validity of his 
marriage with Catherine, who had been the wife of his departed brother^ 
and a wish to unite himself to the lovely Anne Boleyn, at length induced 
Henry to attempt the desired separation by a rupture with Rome. Sup- 
ported by the opinions of native and foreign univei'sities, and of many 
learned bodies, as to the invalidity of his marriage, he had had himself 
divorced from Catherine, and married to Anne, by Thomas Cranmer, the 
new bishop of Canterbury ; he then compelled the clergy to acknowledge 
him as the head of the English Church, and had a number of acts passed 
by the parliament, by which the pope's authority and influence were de- 
stroyed in England. The king then set about effecting such alterations 
in the Church as appeared to him to be useful, or which suited his 
caprice, with unexampled severity and ai'bitrariness. The numerous 
monasteries were violently dissolved, the monks and nuns scarcely pro- 
tected from hunger, and the conventual property either united to the 
crown or bestowed upon courtiers. The tomb of Becket with its rich 
altar was desecrated and plundered, and the memory of the ancient saint 
(§ 275) turned to ridicule, by a ludicrous ceremony. The flames, by which 
Lutherans as well as papists were consumed, were lighted by the wooden 
images of the saints. On the other hand, he left the remaining institu- 
tions of the Catholic Church untouched, and commanded, by the statute 
of the Six bloody Articles, the observance, under penalty of death, of 
celibacy, auricular confession, monastic vows, low mass, transubstantia- 
tion, and the withholding of the cup. The venerable Bishop Fisher and 
the intellectual chancellor, Thomas More, the author of the " Utopia," 
died upon the scaffold, because they did not approve the innovations in 
the Church. Eni'aged at this, the pope at length fulminated a violent 



PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 233 

anathema against Henry and his adherents, at the moment when the dis- 
content at the dissolution of the cloisters had produced an insurrection 
among the peasantry in the north of the kingdom, in which monks 
marched at the head of the bands. Upon this, Henry condemned the 
friends and relations of Cardinal Pole, who had prepared the anathema, 
to die upon the scaffold or galloAvs, and delivered over abbots and monks 
in the dress of their order to the executioner. 

§ 344. But the despotism and sensuality of the king were most clearly 
displayed in his treatment of his wives. vScarcely had the divoi'ced Cathe- 
rine died, far from the court, a victim to her sorrows and her wrongs, 
before her rival, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by the command of her 
jealous husband. His third wife, the young and gentle Jane Seymour, 
died a few days after giving birth to the delicate Edward ; upon which, 
Henry suffered himself to be seduced by the advice of his chancellor, and 
by a portrait of Holbein's, into suing for the hand of a German princess, 
Anne of Cleves. But neither her figure nor her disposition suited the 
amorous king, who accordingly procured another divorce upon grounds 
altogether frivolous. Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, retained her 
affection for a former lover after her elevation, and expiated her want of 
faith upon the scaffold ; and Catherine Parr, the last of his queens, had 
only her own shrewdness to thank that she did not fall a victim to her zeal 
for the Reformation. Since the days of Nero and Domitian, there had 
hardly been a monarch who had surrendered himself so completely to the 
promptings of a despotic nature, a passion for blood, and a tyrannical 
will. Even on his death-bed, he issued orders for executions. 

Edward VI ^ ^^^* ^^ ^''^ ^"^^^ ^^ ^^^ father's death, Edward VI. num- 

A. D. bered but six years ; Henry had, in consequence, appointed 

1547-1553. ^ council, to conduct the government during his son's minor- 
ity. In this council, Edward's maternal uncle — the duke of Somerset, 
and the Archbishop Cranmer, attained the greatest authority. The for- 
mer, raised to the office of Protector of England, gradually got the whole 
power of the state into his own hands, and favored the establishment of 
an Anglican Church, which had been undertaken with prudence and mo- 
deration by his friend Cranmer. This consists of a mixture of Catholic 
and Protestant elements. Public worship was accommodated to the 
Book of Common Prayer, in the English language, which was compiled 
from the ancient Mass books ; the Communion was administered in both 
kinds ; the abolishing of celibacy, and the confession of faith in the 
Thirty-nine Articles, is in conformity with other Protestant Churches ; 
on the other hand, the episcopal constitution, the continuance in the use of 
colored robes during divine worship, and a few ecclesiastical statutes, call 
the Roman Catholic system to mind ; only, instead of the pope, the king 
is the head of the Church, and the bishops and archbishops are appointed 
by him. 

20* 



234 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Somerset made many enemies by his ambition, Avho first procured liis 
fall, and at length his execution. Warwick, earl of JSTorthumberland, the 
itmbitious chief of the opposite party, stepped into his place, and exer- 
cised the same unlimited authority over the young king and the country 
as his predecessor had done. For the purpose of prolonging his sway, 
he persuaded the dying Edward to alter the wdll of his father, and ap- 
point as his successor, Jane Gray, a niece of Henry VIII., who Avas dis- 
posed to the evangelical doctrines, instead of Edward's Catholic sister, 
Mary. But hatred to the ambitious Northumberland, whose son, Dudley, 
was the husband of Jane Gray, and the hereditary reverence for the 
Mary Tudor legitimate inheritor, operated in favor of Mary. She brought 
A. D. the people over to her side by the assurance that nobody 

lo53-i558. giiQui^]^ ]be disturbed on account of his religion, and succeeded 
in gaining the throne. Northumberland died on the scaffold. Dudley 
and the classically accomplished Jane Gray, who was not less versed in 
the writings of Plato than in the Bible, after pining for some time in pri- 
son, were the victims of a similar fate. 

§ 346. Mary did not remain true to her promise. Bred np in the 
Catholic faith, for which her mother, Catherine, had suffered, she looked 
upon the restoration of papacy and the ancient Church forms as the most 
important of her duties as a ruler. She had the Church Reform of Ed- 
ward VI. abolished by act of Parliament, and adopted measures, in con- 
junction with Cardinal Pole, whom she raised to the archiepiscopal chair 
of Canterbury, for the extirpation of heresy and the restoration of the 
old system. The refractory bishops were deposed ; Cranmer and two of 
his most zealous coadjutors given over to the flames, and the fires of 
martyrdom lighted all over the kingdom. To neglect attending mass 
was to put life in peril. Crowds of refugees fled over the seas, to seek 
for refuge in Germany and Switzerland. When Mary gave her hand to 
the fanatical Philip of Spain, the persecution waxed hotter. But grief 
at the evident dislike of her husband, melancholy, and misanthropy 
shortened her days. She died at the moment when she was deceiving 
herself with the idle hope, that she was about to present a Catholic suc- 
cessor to the nation. 

Her half-sister, Elizabeth, the daughter of the unfortunate Anne 
Boleyn, exchanged the residence she had hitherto occupied in the Tower, 
where she had passed a troublous youth in the midst of sorrow and dan- 
ger, for the royal palace, and restored, by the Act of Uniformity, the 
Reformation that had been established under Edward VI. The Book of 
Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles again resumed their au- 
thority ; and Elizabeth exercised the influence which she possessed as 
the spiritual head of the Church, in establishing the Court of High Com- 
mission. It was in vain that the exiles, on their return home, hoped to 
induce the queen to undertake a thorough Reformation, on the model of 



PROGRESS OP THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 235 

the Calvinistic Cluu'ch. Elizabeth's lofty spirit, and her love for reli- 
gious ceremonial and ecclesiastical pomp, despised the simplicity and 
popular equality of the Calvinists, who, from their insisting upon the 
purification of the Church, were called Puritans. When these men 
found there was no hope for the reception of their doctrines into the An- 
glican Church, they separated themselves as nonconformists, and esta- 
blished a religious system of their own, with presbyteries and synods, a 
religious service from which art and poetry were banished, and a system 
of Church discipline in which every earthly pleasure was a sin. Per- 
secution was soon let loose against the Puritans, under which they be- 
came still more gloomy and morose, and at length increased to a danger- 
ous party. 

C. THE REFORMATION IN THE THREE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS. 

§ 347. In the sixteenth century, a complete revolution in the state of 
affairs took place in the three Scandinavian kingdoms. Christian II., the 
last king of the united empire (§ 296), irritated the nobility to such an 
extent by his severity and cruelty, that insurrections broke out at the 
same time both in Denmark and Sweden, in consequence of which the 
union of Calmar was dissolved, and the evangelical Church obtained the 
supremacy. Gustavus Vasa, a courageous youth, endowed with the valor 
and wisdom of the Stures, who were his relations, was the originator 
of this ecclesiastical and political revolution in Sweden, and the founder 
of a viirorous race of monarchs. He was carried into Denmark as a 
hostage by Christian 11. From this place, however, he soon foand an 
opportunity to escape into Lubeck, where he was not only protected but 
provided with money, and encouraged with promises of the liberation of 
^^„„ his native country. In the same y<?ar in which the slaughter 

A. X>. 1520. J J o 

of Stockholm produced a universal horror of the Danish 
government, Gustavus landed on his native shores. In the midst of a 
thousand dangers and adventures, he escaped the pui'suits of Christian's 
emissaries, who were perpetually at his heels, by his own courage and 
the fidehty of his countrymen, till at length he found aid and protection 
from the rude inhabitants of Northern Dalecarlia. With a band of hardy 
peasants he conquered Falun, repulsed the troops of the Danes and their 
allies, and took Upsala. The &me of his name and the attractive call of 
liberty soon resounded through all lands, and attracted many warriors to 
his side. Supported by the Lubeckers with troops, money, and artillery, 
he compelled the Danish garrison to retreat, and then, after having been 

elected king by the Diet of Strengnas, he held his entry into 

' "" ' Stockholm. At first, the new kingdom of Sweden remained 

an elective monarchy, till, twenty years later, the crown was declared by 

the diet to be hereditary in the male line of Vasa. But as 

the possessions of the throne had been so dilapidated by 



236 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

neglect as not to be sufficient to support the expenditure, the new Idngly 
dignity could not be supported with honor except by an augmentation of 
the kingly revenue. For this, the Reformation afforded a welcome op- 
portunity. The people, instructed in the Lutheran doctrines by the 
brothers Olaus and Laurentius Petri, willingly accepted the new faith, 
and the Diet placed the possessions of the clergy, who during the war 
had sided with the Danes, and shown no interest in the independence of 
their country, at the disposal of the king. Gustavus, sup- 
A. D. 1527. ported by this resolution, gradually introduced the Reforma- 
tion into the whole country, and deprived the Church of the greater part 
of its possessions, for the purpose of attaching them to the crown. The 
nobility, who were enriched by the proceeding, supported the undertak- 
ing. The bishops, who, after a long resistance, submitted to the new 
system, remained Estates of the empire and heads of the Church, but 
were dependent upon the king, and held in check by the consistories. 

§ 348. A similar revolution had, in the mean time, taken place in Den- 
mark. Frederick I., acknowledged as king by the nobility and people, 
sought, by supporting the evangelical doctrine, to strengthen himself 
against his rival. Christian II., who, although at first favorable to the 
Reformation, had afterwards united himself to the emperor and the pope 
for the purpose of regaining possession of his states. In the same time 
in which Frederick admitted Protestants to equal civil rights with Catho- 
lics at the Diet of Odensee, and established the Danish Church's independ- 
ence of Rome, Christian II. made an attack upon Denmark from Nor- 
way ; but was taken prisoner, and compelled to pine for sixteen years in 
a gloomy tower, with no other companion than a Norwegian dwarf. 
Christian HI Under Christian III., the son of Frederick I., the Lutheran 
A. T>. ' form of worship attained a complete triumph in Denmark 

1534-1559. also. The clergy lost the greater part of their possessions 
to the crown and the nobility, and the bishops, whose titles were retained 
in the Scandinavian kingdoms, fell into complete dependence upon the 
government. In Norway, the new Church was quietly established by 
the peasantry ; but in Iceland, the Episcopal party fell with the sword 
in their hands. The Swedish and Danish nobility gained great wealth, 
power, and privileges by the Reformation. 

§ 349. Gustavus Vasa had attempted to establish Sweden's prosperity 
by wholesome laws, and by the encouragement of trade and industry; 
but evil times came upon the land under the government of his sons. 
F ■ h XIV Erich XIV. was of so passionate a disposition that he at 
A. D. length became insane. Whilst in this state, he murdered 

1560-1568. ^^^jjjj jjjg Q^yjj jjg^ji^j several members of the family of Sture, 

and caused all the nobles to tremble in anticipation of a similar fate ; 
which induced his brothers to place him in confinement, and at length to 
send him out of the world by poison. His brother, John III., a weak- 



PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION THROUGH EUROPE. 237 

minded prince of unstable cliaracter, succeeded to the government. Led 
Johnm. astray by his wife, a rigid CathoHc and the daughter of 

A. D. a Polish prince, and by a Jesuit who lived secretly in 

o - loO^. Stockholm as an ambassador, John attempted again to intro- 
duce the ancient form of religion into his kingdom, and consented that 
bis son Sigismond, who was to be king both of Sweden and Poland, 
should be brought up as a Catholic. His scheme proved abortive from 
the resistance of the Swedish people to the Catholic ceremonies ; he him- 
self afterwards repented of his attempt, when his second wife exerted her- 
self in favor of the evancrelical doctrine. But the attachment to the 
Catholic Church proved of great detriment to his son, the Polish king, 
Sigismond HI. For when he refused compliance with the resolution of 
the Diet, that the evangelical- Lutheran religion should be solely predomi- 
nant and alone tolerated in Sweden, his uncle, Charles of Sudermania, 
,. „ was named re2;ent. It was in vain that Sigismond attempted 

A. D. 1598. ° . 

to defend his rights by force of arms, he was defeated by his 
uncle ; whereupon the Diet required him either to renounce popery, and 
to govern his hereditary kingdom in person ; or to send his sou to 
Sweden, that he might be brought up in the religion of the country. 
When Sigismond refused compliance with this demand, Charles IX. 
received the crown he had long been striving for, and a new law of suc- 
cession secured it to his family. 

§ 350. At this time, a war arose between Sweden and Poland. This 
Charles IX ^^"^^' '"'^^ich, after Charles's death, was inherited by his son, 
A. D. Gustavus Adolphus, terminated to the advantage of Sweden, 

1600-1611. ^^Yio soon united Livonia and a part of Prussia to Finland 
and Esthonia, her other provinces on the Baltic. 

From this time, the power of Poland gradually decayed. An attempt 
at a reformation of the Church, which would have been attended by a 
renovation of the state, and a moi*e intimate connection with neighboring 
countries, was suppressed by a selfish nobility, who thought of nothing 
but increasing their own power and privileges. It was only a few per- 
secuted and fugitive teachers of the new doctrines that found protection 
and toleration in Poland. They were opposed to the Catholic Poles 
under the comprehensive term of Dissidents, and succeeded, after many 
struggles, in obtaining toleration for their religion, and an equality of 
civil rights ; possessions in which they were afterwards seriously dis- 
turbed. Several opinions found toleration in Poland that had been 
rejected by the Reformers as unorthodox. Among these may be men- 
tioned those entertained by the sect of Socinians (Unitarians) founded 
by the Italian Socinus, who denied the Divine nature of Christ and the 
doctrine of the Trinity. 



238 THE MODERN EPOCH. 



d. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

§ 351. Traces of the Reformation displayed themselves both in Spain 
and Italy, but were prevented from extending partly by the character of 
the people, and partly by the severity of the Inquisition ; the suspected 
died in frightful dungeons, or at the stake. Among the confessors of the 
new doctrine were found the most illustrious authors and men of learn- 
ing, who, for the most part, took refuge abroad. Some adopted princi- 
ples that were rejected as heretical even by the Reformers ; for example, 
the two Italian brothers, Socinus ;* and the Spaniard, Servetus, who was 
burnt to death at Geneva, at the suggestion of Calvin, for holding unor- 
thodox opinions on the subject of the Trinity (a. d. 1553.) 

The heads and leaders of the Catholic Church did not give up the 
thought of suppressing the new doctrines : wherever it was in their power, 
they sought to attain this object by persecution and violence ; and when 
this was not practicable, they opposed and impeded their diffusion in 
Adrian VI. every possible way. Almost all the popes, even those who, 
like Adrian VI. and Paul III., were convinced of the pre- 
vailing abuses of the Church, and meditated plans for their 
removal, displayed great severity against the Protestants. 
Thus Paul IV., an octogenarian and a gloomy monk, pro- 
voked the people to such a degree, that, on the day of his 
death, they mutilated his statues, and burnt down the house 
of the Inquisition. His successor, Pius IV., brought to a 
termination the twice interrupted Council of Trent, the third 
assembling of which commenced with the January of 1562. 
The resolutions of this Council (in which the Catholics see 
their own Reformation), form the foundation of the Catholic Church. 
The religious doctrines that had hitherto been regarded as orthodox were 
here recognized as infallible, and embodied in expressions as indefinite 
as possible; a purer code of morals was established, the Church disci- 
pline improved, and a more rigorous supervision of the clergy established. 
The Council of Trent, which was gradually received in all Catholic 
countries, is the final conclusiou of Catholic doctrine ; from this time, no 
more synods have been held. In this manner, every attempt at innova- 
tion was prevented, and the character of stability impressed upon Catho- 
licism ; v/hilst, on the contrary, the essence of Protestantism is develop- 
ment and progress. 

Greo-ory XHI., Gregory XIII., who gave the calendar, which had fallen 
A. D. 1572- into confusion, its present improved arrangement, by passing 
^^^^- at once from the 18th of February to the 1st of March, 

* This is a mistake. Lajlius Socinus and Faustus Socinus were not brotliers, but uncle 
and nephew. The title of the Bibliotheca Fratrum Pohnorum, a collection of the works of 
the Socinian theologians, may have led Dr. Weber into this error. Am. Ed. 



A. D. 


1522, 


1523. 




Paul m., 


A. D. 


1534- 


1549. 




Paul IV., 


A. D. 


1555- 


1559. 




Pius IV., 


A. D. 


1559- 


1565. 





THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 239 

ordered a Te Deum to be sung for the extirpation of the enemies of 
Christ when he heard the inteUigence of the massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew (§ 363). The most remarkable prince of the Church, during the 
Sixtus V whole century, was Sixtus V., who, from the condition of a 
A.D. 1585- poor shepherd boy, had risen to be a Franciscan, inquisitor, 
1590. cardinal, and at length, pope. He was a man of a strong 

and imperious nature, who maintained the discipline of the Church with 
inexorable severity, erected several remarkable buildings, drew forth the 
gigantic works of antiquity from their rubbish, and attempted to restore 
the ancient splendor to the papal chair. 

§ 352. The attempts of the popes to suppress the Reformation, or at 
least to prevent its diffusion, found their chief support in the Order of 
Jesuits, which was founded by Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish 
nobleman of excitable imagination and enthusiastic tempera- 
ment. Affected by the histories of the saints, which he read during the 
healing of a wound, Ignatius renounced the profession of soldier, to which 
he had hitherto belonged, and accomplished a toilsome pilgrimage, with 
prayers and penance, to the Holy Sepulchre. After his return, he 
acquired, with incredible perseverance, the education in which he was 
deficient, in Salamanca and Paris ; and then, together with six associates, 
swore upon the host not only to be true to the three monastic vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience, but to allow the object of their efforts 
to be determined on by the pope, and then to submit themselves to his 
decision with unconditional compliance. A short time after, they pros- 
trated themselves at the feet of the Roman pontiff, and obtained a con- 
firmation of the new Order, which received the name of the Society of 
Jesus. Ignatius became the first general of the Order ; but it is not to 
him, but to his successor, the Sj)aniard, Lainez, that the Society of Jesus 
is indebted for its artfully designed constitution. 

This constitution was military-monarchical. The superintendents of 
the provinces (the provincials), were subject to the general in Rome, and 
under these again were a multitude of heads in various steps and grada- 
tions. Obedience and rigid subordination were the soul of the alliance. 
All the members were most heedfully watched over, and were compelled 
to tear asunder all the bands that connected them with the Avorld. 
Postulants were required to pass through a long period of probation, 
during which, the talents and disposition of every individual were mi- 
nutely scrutinized, so that he might be devoted to his most appi'opriate 
sphere of action. The Jesuits, who were endowed with great privileges, 
soon attained a vast and multifarious activity. The chief aim of the Order 
was to oppose Protestantism, and to suppress the freedom of inquiry that 
had been awakened by the Reformation. They attempted these objects 
by a variety of ways ; they endeavored to lead back the adherents of the 
new faith into the bosom of the ancient Church by persuasion and seduce- 



240 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

ment ; the confessional was made use of to induce princes and men in 
authority to oppose the Reformation, and to put limits to the freedom of 
belief ; and by the education of youth, which they had known how to get 
into their own hands, they sought to bring up the young in their own 
principles. The Order was enriched by presents and legacies, and this 
wealth facilitated the erection of Jesuitical seminaries, which, plentifully 
provided with every thing that was requisite, imparted instruction gra- 
tuitously, and thus attracted many of the necessitous. Moreover, the 
object aimed at by the instruction given by the Jesuits was not a free 
development of the mind, but only the acquirement of knowledge that 
might be serviceable in life. It might rather be called training than 
education. Sciences were presented in a certain conti'acted form, and 
free speculation was prevented. Readiness in the Latin language, and 
an acquaintance with a few sciences that Avei'e of practical utility, were 
the aim of the Jesuitical education ; the means — severe discipline and 
the excitement of ambition : philosophy, on the other hand, histoiy, and 
every thing that directs men's minds to more elevated or comprehensive 
views, were either banished or taught with restrictions. But what drew 
down the curses of the people on the Jesuitical order was, that by its 
dangerous morality it became the destroyer of truth and faith, and the 
disseminator of malicious and false principles. The revolting doctrine 
that the end sanctifies the means, and that words and oaths might be 
rendered invalid by a mental reservation, were brought into use by the 
Jesuits in a most audacious manner. 

5. THE TIMES OF PHILIP II. (a. D. 1556 1598) AKD ELIZABETH 

(A. D. 1558 — 1603). 

§ 353. Philip II. of Spain was a gloomy and misanthropical prince, 
who proposed three objects to himself as the aims of his existence, — 
the increase of his power, the extirpation of Protestantism, and the anni- 
hilation of liberty and popular rights. In the attainment of these ends, 
he sacrificed the happiness of his people, the prosperity of his kingdom, 
and the affection of his subjects and nearest relations. His chivalrous 
half-brother, Don Juan, who defeated the Turks in the sea- 
engagement at Lepanto, was surrounded by the suspicious 
king with such a web of falsehood, intrigue, and espionage, and so fet- 
tered in all his undertakings, that grief and vexation plunged him into an 
early grave. Philip's son, the impetuous and passionate Don Carlos, 
died in the dungeons of the Inquisition, — that mighty spiritual court, 
which, under Philip, became the terror and horror of the people. By 
means of tliis horrible Inquisition, and the dreadful autos da fe, he was 
indeed successful in destroying every trace of heresy in Spain and Na- 
ples, and in depriving the people of their freedom ; but he at the same 
time annihilated the prosperity, the wealth, and the national greatness of 



PORTUGAL UNITED WITH SPAIN. 241 

these countries ; and when he attempted to bend the Netheriands under 
the same yoke, that memorable contest burst forth, out of which hberty 
came forth triumphant. After a reign of twelve years, which proved the 
grave of Spain's greatness, and burdened the once rich land with an op- 
pressive national debt, Philip fell a victim to a dreadful disease. He had 
a cruel executor of his tyrannical commands in Duke Alba. The curse 
of the people rests on the names of both. 

a. PORTUGAL UNITED WITH SPAIN. 

§ 354. Portugal had a similar fate with Spain. In both countries, a 
powerful priesthood supported by an absolute king, suppressed the spirit- 
ual movements of the people, and paralyzed their powers. Freedom 
and rights were lost, and the ancient heroism, the bloom and the pros- 
perity of an earlier period, disappeared beneath sloth and slavery. This 
was particularly the case when Portugal, by a gloomy fatality, was uni- 
ted to Spain. 

King Sebastian, a young man, and who had been educated by the 
priests in rigid faith and obedience to the Church and pope, undertook an 
expedition against the infidel Moors in northern Africa, with the purpose 
of gratifying at once both his zeal for proselytism and his love of con- 
quest. He commenced an impetuous attack, during the 
burning heat of an August day, upon the superior force of 
the enemy, in the plain of Alcassar, and suffered a dreadful defeat. 
12,000 Christian warriors covered the field of battle. Sebastian him- 
self v/as among those who were missing, but his body could be nowhere 
discovered. The crown of Portugal descended to an ancient relative ; 
and when he died, two years afterwards, without children, Philip 11. of 
Spain made pretensions to the kingdom, and sent Duke Alba with an 
ai'my against the Portuguese, who, out of national hatred and neighbor- 
ly jealousy, favored the pretensions of a rival claimant, Antonio. But 
the latter was not in a position to contest his pretended hereditary claims 
against the superior power of Spain. He was defeated and compelled 
to fly, upon which Lisbon and the whole country submitted to the Span- 
iards. Antonio, after a few unsuccessful attempts, died, poor and haras- 
sed by perpetual plots, in Paris ; and the false Sebastians that arose from 
time to time, and endeavored to stir up the Portuguese against their de- 
tested neighbors, did not meet with the necessary support. The fourth 
Sebastian, who by many was regarded as the true one, ended his days in 
A. D. 1580- a Spanish prison. The pernicious domination of Spain over 
1640. Portugal endured for sixty years. At the end of this peri- 

od, the illustrious duke of Braganza succeeded in bringing the crown 
into hi3 own family. But in the meanwhile, the navy of Portugal had 
fallen into decay, and her foreign possessions passed into other hands. 

21 



242 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

h. THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN THE NETHERLANDS. 

§ 355. The Netherlands, from time immemorial, had possessed char- 
tered rights and liberties, among which, consent to taxation by the 
Estates of the country, an independent judicature, and the exclusion of 
Spanish troops and officials, occupied the most prominent place. These 
rights had been already occasionally infringed daring the time of Charles 
V. ; but the love of the emperor for the Netherlanders, among whom he 
had been born, and for whose manners and customs he retained an affec- 
tion, prevented any greater hostilities. Philip, on the contrary, was a 
haughty Spaniard, who looked upon the Netherlands as a conquered 
country, and who perpetually violated their hereditary privileges. He 
appointed his half-sister, Margaret of Parma, a woman of masculine 
spirit, his viceregent in Brussels ; but placed a state council at her side, 
in which a foreigner, Cardinal Granvella, was president, and sent a 
Spanish garrison into the country. But the Netherlanders, many of 
whom were inclined to the evangelical doctrines, felt themselves most 
aggrieved, when the king, for the purpose of maintaining the pure faith 
and the discipline of the Church, ordered the laws against heresy to be 
rendered more stringent, and appointed fourteen new bishops in addition 
to the four already existing. These regulations were intended to facili- 
tate the gradual introduction of the Spanish Inquisition ; and the Car- 
dinal Granvella, who, as archbishop of Mechlin, had all the other bishop- 
rics under him, already assumed the title of Grand-Inquisitor. All 
attempts of the patriotic party, at the head of which stood William of 
Orange and Count Egmont, to induce the king by petitions to respect the 
institutions of the country, to mitigate the laws against heresy, and to 
allow freedom of belief, were ineffectual. Philip replied, " that he would 
rather die a thousand times, than suffer the slightest change in religion." 

§ 356. It was among the burgher class alone that any disciples of the 
new Church were to be met with ; the nobility for the most part adhered 
to the ancient faith, but were resolute in opposing the Inquisition with all 
November, their powei'. With this object, about 400 nobles subscribed 
1565. the so-called Compromise, and drew up a petition for the 

repeal of the laws against heresy, and the discontinuance of the proceed- 
ings of the Inquisition. When they presented themselves with this 
before the palace of the vice-regent, she fell into a state of agitation. One 
of the council who was standing beside her exclaimed, that she should 
not be alarmed by these beggars (gueux), a word that was communicated 
to the confederates, and made use of by them as the sign of their alli- 
ance. They named themselves Gueses, and from this time wore a medal 
round the neck, with the effigy of the king, and the inscription, " True to 
the wallet." The petition remained without result. Heretics were pun- 
ished in their freedom, property, and lives. Despite all this, the new 



THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN THE NETHERLANDS. 243 

doctrines made more and more pi'ogress ; psalms were sung, the preach- 
ings of the evangelical clergy, whicli were often held in the open air, 
were attended by thousands ; monks, images of the Virgin, and holy ob- 
jects were turned to ridicule. At length, the long restrained wrath of 
the people at the religious persecution burst its bounds in Antwerp, 
Brussels, and the Avhole of Brabant. A mob, consisting of the lowest 
class of the people, mutilated the crucitixes and images of the saints 
which were standing in the roads ; but the increasing multitude soon 
attacked the churches and cloisters, and perpetrated every kind of sacri- 
legious atrocity. These occurrences produced a division. The moderate 
party joined the regent, and assisted her in punishing the guilty. Order 
was in a shoi't time restored, and Margaret recommended gentleness and 
moderation as the only means by which the tranquillity of the country 
could be permanently established. But her representations found no 
acceptance in Madrid. It was determined to send the cruel Alba with a 
Spanish army to the Netherlands, and to reduce the people by force and 
severity. 

Alba, A. D. § 357. The intelligence of Alba's arrival caused the Nether- 
15G7-1573. landers to take flight in crowds. "William of Orange, a pru- 
dent and circumspect man, in the full vigor of life, resolute, energetic, 
and taciturn, yielded to the storm and retreated to Holland. He parted 
in tears from Egmont, whom he vainly attempted to persuade to follow 
the same course. Egmont's happy nature could not give credit to the 
Spanish treachery, against which Orange warned him. He trusted to his 
former services to the royal family of Spain, and remained. But Alba 
had hardly arrived at Brussels, with unlimited powers, before 

A. D. luC8. 1111 . -L 

he placed the unsuspectmg Egmont and the gallant Horn 
under arrest, and caused them, with eighteen others of the nobility, to be 
executed as traitors. He then established a council of rebellion, called 
by the Netherlanders The Bloody Council, which punished with unex- 
ampled severity not only the disciples of the evangelical doctrine, but the 
resolute defenders of their country's rights and institutions. The regent, 
disgusted with these horrors, resigned her ofBce and retired to Italy. Her 
memory was held in honor. Alba, however, erected a citadel in Antwerp, 
and for six years (a. D. 1567-1573) exercised an oppressive tyranny 
that threatened the greatest danger to liberty and prosperity. Without 
regard to the laws of the land, which required that the taxes should be 
allowed by the Estates of every district, and collected in a manner the 
best suited to their object, Alba imposed a fixed tax upon the country, 
and levied it in a manner extremely unfavorable to trade and commerce, 
inasmuch as, in addition to a property tax, he introduced a high tariff. 
The discontent and irritation of the people at these oppressive imposts at 
length produced such a fermentation in the country, that Alba's recall 
was decided upon in Madrid. The intelligence that a band of exiles, 



244 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

called Water-Gueses, had stormed the sea-port, Briel, and that the north- 
ern states, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and Fj-iesland, had united together 
and reco2;nized William of Orange as their Stadtholder, 
might have convinced the Spanish court that Alba's pro- 
ceedings Vi'^ere not leading to the desired result. Shortly after the Duke's 
departure from the Netherlands, the northern states, in the synod of 
Dort, raised Calvinism to be the religion of the state, receiv^ed the Heid- 
elberg Catechism, and erected a Protestant university in the town of 
Leyden, as a reward for the heroic defence of the citizens against the 
beleaguering Spanish array. 

Zuniga, A. d. § 358. Alba's successor, Louis of Zunlga and Requescens, 
1573-1576. abolished the Bloody Council, and attempted by milder mea- 
sures again to confirm the tottering power of Spain in the Netherlands ; 
but the hatred of the people against the foreign troops, whose licentious- 
ness every day increased, prevented a reconciliation. Even his victory 
on the Mokerheath, where two of the brothers of Orange died as became 
heroes, failed in producing the expected results. Zuniga died two years 
afterwards. Before his successor, Don Juan, Philip's gallant half- 
Don Juan brother, could enter upon his diftlcult office, the insolence of 
A. D. 1576- the savage and unpaid soldiery attained its highest pitch. 
1578. They filled the wealthy cities of INIaestricht and Antwerp 

with murder, plunder, and desolation. At this crisis, the shrewd Orange 

was successful in uniting the whole of the states, by the 
A. D. 1576. . . ° T J 

alliance of Ghent, in the resolution of mutually assisting each 
other, Avith life and property, in diuving out the Spanish troops ; and 
Don Juan was not in a position, during the brief period of his exertions 
in the Netherlands, to reestablish firmly the shattered power of Spain. 
Alexander -^"'' ^on Juan, as well as his more experienced successor, 
Famese, A. d. Alexander Farnese of Parma, son of the regent, Margaret, 
1578-1592. -^yf^g intent upon fostering the jealousy and hereditary envy 
between the northern and southern states, and on maintaining the rights of 
the Catholic Church in the latter, that the dominion of Spain might be 
preserved in the southern states at least. This scheme was seen through 
by Orange, who, being convinced that even the w^eak were strengthened 
by imion, united the northern states, (Holland, Zealand, Geld- 
ers, Utrecht, Friesland), into a closer confederacy for the 
purpose of mutual cooperation, by the Union of Utrecht. This alliance 
was the foundation of the United States of the Protestant Netherlands. 
On the other hand, matters in the south became every day more confused 
and divided by the intermeddling of foreign princes and nobles, so that 
the energetic Parma was enabled in many places to suppress the insur- 
rection, and to bring back many of the towns to obedience. Philip's 
wrath was now directed against Orange. He had already outlawed him, 
and promised a title of nobility and a vast reward to whosoever should 



THE TIMES OP PHILIP II. AND ELIZABETH. 245 

deliver him up either alive or dead. This tempting promise, and the ac- 
tivity of fanatical priests, were followed by several attempts at assassina- 
tion. Orange escaped one of these, but the bullet of the fanatic, Ger- 
hard of Franche-Comte, laid him dead at the door of the 
' ' '^ ' ■ royal banqueting-hall of Delft. The murderer was however 
seized and put to a cruel death. In the place of Orange, the northern 
states elected his gallant son, Maurice, as Stadtholder and general. 

§ 359. About this time, the religious animosity between Catholics and 
Protestants was greater than ever in the west of Europe ; and whilst 
the former placed all their hopes upon Philip of Spain, the latter receiv- 
ed assistance either private or open from Elizabeth of England. She 
sent her favorite, Leicester, with an army into the Netherlands, to pre- 
vent Parma's complete triumph ; she assisted the Huguenots against 
Philip's allies, the Leaguists and Jesuits (§ 3G2, 3G4), and consented to 
the execution of Mary Stuart, when she found that her 
own life was threatened by the daggers of fanatics (§ 3G8). 
Upon this, Philip determined to annihilate all the enemies of the Catho- 
lic Church by a mighty blow, and above all, to chastise heretical Eng- 
land and her excommunicated queen. AVith this view, he fitted out the 
Armada or " Invincible Fleet," consisting of 130 large ships of war, and 
sent them into the Channel, under the command of Medina 
Sidonia, to the end that, supported by Parma's land force, 
they might subject, at the same time, England, France, and the Nether- 
lands. But the undertaking ended in the shame and ruin of Spain. The 
*' Invincible Fleet " was destroyed by storms, and the skill and courage 
of the English ; the greater part of that which escaped the fire-ships, the 
rocks, and the enemy, in the Channel, was wrecked upon the Hebrides 
and Shetland islands, when Sidonia attempted to return to Spain by 
sailing round Scotland. It was a fatal blow. Philip admitted this, when 
he composed the fears of the trembling admiral with the words, " I sent 
you against men, not against rocks and storms." This event destroyed 
Spain's supremacy at sea, and secured the independence of the Nether- 
lands. The war, indeed, continued for twenty years longer ; but the Span- 
iards, despite the bravery of their troops and the skill of their command- 
ers, Avere not in a condition to subject the whole of the country. The 
northern states, who possessed an admirable leader in Maurice of Or- 
ange, maintained the struggle for freedom and independence. A short 
time before his death, Philip presented the Netherlands to his daughter, 
Clara Eugenia, on her marriage with the archduke, Albert of Austria, 
as a fief, under the condition, that the land should revert to Spain in the 
event of her dying without children. The United States of Holland, 
however, would not consent to this scheme. They still continued the 
war after the death of Philip II., till at length, by the inter- 
mediation of Henry IV. of France, a truce was arranged, 
21* 



246 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

by which their independence, religious freedom, and trade with the East 
Indies were secured to them. But it was not till the peace of Westpha- 
lia that the independence of the United States of Holland was formally 
acknowledged. The southern provinces (Belgium), on the other hand, 
remained for a whole century subject to Spain, and then fell into the 
hands of Austria. 

§ 360. Trade. — Government. — Synod of Dokt. — Holland 
came forth from the struggle flourishing and powerful. Navigation and 
commerce received a vast impulse, after the Hollanders (particularly the 
East India Company, established in 1602) entered into direct commer- 
cial relations with India, and deprived the Portuguese of many of their 
colonies. Batavia, in the island of Java, was the centre of their lucra- 
tive trafiic. The Constitution of the United States, which was mainly 
the work of the great statesman. Van Olden Barnveldt, was republican. 
The States General, which were formed by deputies from the seven 
provinces, possessed the power of legislation ; the High Council, with 
the stadtholder at its head, conducted the government ; the affaii's of 
war, however, and the supreme command over the sea and land forces, 
belonged to the stadtholder alone. The arts and sciences at the same 
time flourished prosperously ; the study of antiquity, in particular, met 
with unusual attention in the Dutch universities. 

But even Protestant Holland did not remain free from the mischiev- 
ous wars of religion. A dispute respecting the Calvinistic doctrine of 
predestination divided the country into two parties, — a severe party 
(Gomarists), to which Maurifte of Orange and his adherents attached 
themselves, and a moderate party (Arminians), whose supporters were 
Van Olden Barnveldt and Hugo Grotius. The synod of Dort (§ 342) 
decided in favor of the former ; upon which. Van Olden Barnveldt, who 
had deserved so highly, and was then in his seventy-second year, pei'ish- 
ed on the scaffold ; and Plugo Grotius, the learned historian of the strug- 
gles of the Netherlands for liberty, and the founder of civil and interna- 
tional law according to the principles of the ancients, was confined in 
prison till rescued by the cunning and fidelity of his wife. 

C. FRANCE DURING THE WAR OF RELIGION. 

§ 361. During this period, fux'ious religious wars were raging in France 
also. Henry II., a determined enemy of the Huguenots (§ 342), died in 
consequence of a wound he received during a tournament. His feeble 
Francis H. ^^^^ delicate son, Francis II., was his successor. This prince 
A. D. was married to the fascinating Mary Stuart of Scotland, 

1559-1560. v^riiose uncles, the Guises, in consequence, enjoyed great in- 
fluence at the French court. The Guises, as zealous adherents of the 
Catholic Church and the papacy, made use of their lofty position to sup- 
press the reformed party ; but by doing this, gave their opponents, and 



THE TIMES OF PHILIP II. AND ELIZABETH. 247 

in especial, the Prince Conde, of the family of Bourbon, and the Admi- 
ral Coligni, the opportunity of strengthening themselves by joining the 
Huguenots. The schism increased daily ; the one party strove to over- 
throw the other, and to secure the victory to their own side by the as- 
sistance of the king. The day on which the Estates assembled at Or- 
leans was selected by both parties as a befitting time for the execution of 
this project. The Guises gained the advantage. The chiefs of the Hu- 
guenots already found themselves in prison, when a turn was given to 
affairs by the. sudden death of the king. The queen-mother, Catherine 
of Medicis, placed herself at the head of affairs during the minority of 
Charles IX. the new king, Charles IX., and the Bourbons assumed a 
A. D. 1560- position suited to their birth. The Guises, irritated at the 
•^^'*" neglect they experienced, retired with their niece, Mary Stu- 

art, into Lorraine, whence the latter, shortly after, departed with sorrow 
and mourning into Scotland. 

§ 362. The removal of the Guises from the court was of advantage 
to the reformed party. They obtained toleration. Enraged at this con- 
cession, the duke of Guise concluded an alliance with some other power- 
ful nobles for the preservation of the ancient faith in France, and return- 
ed to Paris. During this return, a horrible slaughter was perpetrated 
by the Guises and their attendants upon some Calvinists of the town of 
Vassy, who were assembled together in a barn, for the celebration of 
Divine worship. This proved the signal for a religious war. The out- 
rage given to the conceded liberty of conscience by this bloody act of 
violence cried for vengeance. France was soon divided into two hostile 
camps, that attacked each other with bitter animosity and religious rage. 
The most horrible atrocities were committed, and the kingdom disturbed 
to its inmost depths. The Catholics obtained aid from Rome and Spain, 
the Protestants were assisted by England ; Germany and Switzerland 
supplied soldiers. After the undecisive battle of Dreux, and the murder 
of the Duke Francis of Guise, at the siege of Orleans, peace was for a 
short time restored, and the Calvinists again assured of religious tolera- 
tion — a promise that met with but little attention. The two parties 

^,„„ were soon again arrayed in arms against each other. But 
A. D. 1508. . ° 

despite the bravery of the Huguenots in the battle of St. 

Denis, where the elder Montmorenci lost his life, the superiority remain- 
ed on the side of the Catholics ; particularly when Catherine de Medicis, 
who had hitherto sided with neither party, embraced the interests of the 
latter. The sight of crucifixes and sacred objects broken to pieces, dur- 
ing a journey undertaken by the queen and her son, and the advice of 
the duke of Alba, with whom she had an interview in Bayonne, had 
pi'oduced this alteration in her opinions. After several bloody engage- 
ments in the vicinity of La Rochelle, which the Huguenots had selected 
as their battlefield, and after their gallant leader, Conde, had been basely 



248 THE MODERN ErOCH. 

assassinated during one of them, the peace of St. Germain was arrang- 
ed, by whieli the Calvinists were again assured of the fi-ee exercise of 
their religion, Conde's nephew, Heniy of Beam, who had 
been bred up in the doctrine of Calvin by his mother, Joanna 
von Albret, now placed himself at the head of the Huguenots ; but the 
soul of the party was the brave Coligni, who stood by the side of the 
prince as his guide and adviser. 

§ 3G3. Coligni possessed great influence at the court after the peace. 
The young king respected him, and favored him with his confidence. 
For the purpose of bringing about a permanent reconciliation between 
the religious parties, the king now urged a marriage between his sister, 
Margaret of Valois, and the Bourbon, Henry of Beam. This offended 
the Guises, who believed that Coligni had procured the assassination of 
Francis of Guise, and they resolved upon his destruction. Coligni was 
fired at one evening, as he was returning to his own house from the 
Louvre. The ball, however, only shattered his arm, and it was neces- 
. sary to devise a fresh plan of destruction. The Guises, in conjunction 
with Catherine of Medicis, now entertained the horrible project of taking 
advantage of the approaching marriage, for the solemnization of which 
many illustrious Calvinists had hastened to the capital, to destroy the 
chiefs of the Huguenot party. Tlius originated the Bloody Nuptials of 
Paris, in the night of St. Bartholomew, August 24th, 1572. When the 
alarm bell of St. Germain I'Auxerrois gave the signal at midnight, bands 
of armed ruffians fell upon the defenceless Calvinists. The grey-headed 
hero, Coligni, was the first victim that the Guises sacrificed to their hate ; 
the murderous bands then marched through all parts of the city, filled 
the streets and houses with blood and corpses, and laughed to scorn every 
sentiment of humanity and justice. The butchery lasted for three days, 
and was imitated in other towns, so that, at the lowest computation, 
25,000 Huguenots must have perished. The king, to whom the plan 
was communicated a short time before its execution, listened to the voice 
of his passions, and himself fired upon the fugitives. After the deed had 
been accomplished, and the Guises had been fixed upon by the public 
voice as its instigators, and called upon to answer for their conduct, 
Charles took the whole affiiir upon himself, and excused the crime by a 
pretended conspiracy. Many of the French quitted their homes in hor- 
ror, and sought for security in Switzerland, Germany, and the Kether- 
lands. Henry of Beam saved his life by a compulsatory abjuration, but 
returned to his old faith as soon as he found himself in security. 

§ 3G4. Charles IX. died two years after the night of 
St. Bartholomew, troubled with evil dreams. His brother 

TT TTT Henry, who had been for a twelvemonth the elected king of 
Henry Hi., •' ' o ■• it- -i j. 

A. d/i574- Poland, fled secretly from the rude shores of the Vistula to 
1589. tjike possession of the fairer crown of France. Henry IH. 



A. D. 1574. 



THE TIMES OF PHILIP II. AND ELIZABETH. 249 

was a weak and luxurious prince, without either assiduity or energy. 
Shut up with his favorites and pet dogs in the inmost apartments of the 
palace, he forgot his kingdom with its disturbances and miseries; and 
when remorse at his sinful life, which was passed in lust and debauchery, 
seized upon him, he sought consolation in superstitious devotion, in pil- 
grimages and processions, and in penance and flagellations. To bring 
the Huguenots to peace, so that he might be able to devote himself to the 
undisturbed enjoyment of the pleasures of his capital, Henry, immediately 
upon his accession, granted them freedom of conscience, and equal civil 
rights with the Catholics. Enraged at these concessions, which destroyed 
all the fruits of their previous exertions, the zealous Catholics, under the 
guidance of Henry of Guise, and with the cognizance of Philip II. of 
Spain, concluded the Holy League for the preservation of the Church in 
all its ancient rights. Many members were won to this alliance by th-e 
insinuations of the priests and monks, and by the intrigues of the Jesuits. 
The fickle and faithless king, disturbed by this movement, united himself 
with the Catholic zealots, declared himself the head of the League, and 
curtailed the religious peace. The duke of Anjou, Henry's younger 
brother, died a few years after this ; and as he, like the king, was without 
children, the Bourbon, Henry of Navarre (Beam), became the nem-est 
heir to the throne. This prospect of a Protestant kins 

A D 15^4 L LT o 

alarmed the Catholic part of France, and gave fresh vigor 
to the League. The weak king was obliged to recall all treaties with the 
Huguenots, to announce the extirpation of heresy, and to approve the 
arrangements of the League. Henry of Guise, at first, only entertained 
the notion of putting aside the Protestant successor to the throne, who 
had been excommunicated by the pope ; but his courage rose with his 
increasing power ; he soon made attempts upon the crown himself, whilst, 
as a pretended descendant of the Carlovingi, he asserted the superiority 
of his claims to those of the reigning family. A conspiracy was formed 
in Paris (where the citizens were kept in a state of perpetual agitation 
by fanatical popular orators) against the freedom or life of the king ; and 
when Henry III. attempted to defend himself by calling in Swiss troops, 
the agitation burst into rebelHon. The people assembled themselves 
around the Guises, who, against the king's commands, were entering the 
,c , ,-no capital, barricaded the streets and bridges, and commenced 

May 12, la88. \ . o ? 

a iurious contest with smgle divisions of the troops. The 
trembling king fled with his favorites to Chartres, and left his capital in 
the hands of his rival. Henry of Guise now possessed the same power 
that had belonged to the mayors of the palace in the time of the Mero- 
September, vingi (§ 184). But even this position did not satisfy the am- 
1588. bitious party leader. An assembly of Estates, convoked at 

Blois, where the adherents of the Guises were the strongest party, propos- 
ed not only to deprive the Bourbons of their right to the throne and to ex- 



250 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

terminate Calvinism, but to change the government, and to place the 
whole power in the hands of the Guises. At this crisis, Henry hazarded 
a bold stroke ; he had the duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal 
Louis, assassinated, and imprisoned the most influential leaders of their 
party. This proceeding produced a fearful commotion in the whole 
nation: in Paris, allegiance was renounced to the God-forsaken king, 
who had overthrown the pillar of Catholicism ; the pope fulminated an 
excommunication at him ; revolutionary movements took place in many 
quarters. Despised and forsaken, Henry III. saw no other way to safety 
open to him than an alliance with Heni-y of Navarre and the Huguenots. 
A frightful civil war burst out afresh, but fortune was hostile to the 
League. Henry had already laid siege to Paris, and threatened to 
reduce the faithless town to a heap of ruins, when the knife of a fanatical 
monk put an end to his life. Henry III., the last Valois, died on the 1st 
of August, 1589, after appointing Henry of Navarre and Beam his suc- 
cessor. 

§ 365. Henry IV. had still a long struggle to sustain before his head 
was ornamented by the crown of France. Mayenne, the brother of the 
murdered Guise, placed himself at the head of the League, and oifered a 
vehement resistance to the Calvinistic claimant of the throne. Philip II. 
sought to turn the confusion to his own advantage, and commanded his 
able general, Alexander of Parma, to mai'ch his forces from the Nether- 
lands into France. Henry tried for a long time to get possession of his 
inheritance by the sword : he laid siege to Paris, and caused 
the citizens to feel all the horrors of famine ; but he at length 
became convinced that he never could gain peaceable possession of the 
French throne by battles and victories. He thought the crown of France 
was worth a mass, and went over to the Catholic Church in 
' ' ' the cathedral of St. Denis, and by this means destroyed the 
power of the League. Paris now threw open its gates, and welcomed 
the bringer of peace with acclamations. The pope recalled the anathe- 
ma ; the heads of the League concluded a treaty with him, and Philip II., 
a short time before his death, consented to the peace of Vervins. After 
foreign and domestic tranquillity had been thus restored to 
France, the king, by the Edict of Nantes, conferred upon the 
Calvinists liberty of conscience, the full rights of citizenship, and many 
other privileges ; such as separate chambers in the courts of justice, 
several castles, with all their warlike munitions (La Rochelle, Montau- 
ban, Nismes, &c.,) and freedom from episcopal jurisdiction. He next 
sought to heal the wounds that had been inflicted on the land by the war, 
by encouraging agriculture, trade, and commerce ; and had the economy 
of the state and the taxation admirably arranged by his friend and minis- 
ter. Sully. He won for himself the warmest affections of his people by 
his genuine Fi'ench character, and by his cordial and cheerful disposition. 



ELIZABETH AND MARY STUART. 251 

His solitary failing, his too great love for women, was a merit in the 
eyes of the French. But fanaticism was only slumbering. Henry's 
tolerant disposition towards heretics awakened it. As he was meditating 
the vast plan (with the approval of the Dutch Union and other European 
powers) of founding a Christian community with equal privileges for the 
three Confessions, and by this means destroying the supre- 
macy of the royal house of Plapsburg, he fell beneath the 
knife of Eavaillac. 

d. ELIZABETH AND MARY STUART. 

Elizabeth § 3CG. "Whilst France was being torn to pieces by the war 

A. D. 1558- of religion, England, under Ehzabeth, was making mighty 
1603. advances in trade and commerce, in navigation, agriculture, 

and literature. Elizabeth was a despotic ruler, who suppressed the 
ecclesiastical freedom of the people, and who would suffer no opposition 
to her will in parliament ; but she possessed great talents for govern- 
ment, a mind invigorated by severe studies, and an understanding that 
enabled her invariably to recognize and select that which was most pro- 
fitable for the country. She surrounded herself by sage councillors, 
among whom, Cecil (Lord Burleigh) held the first rank, and maintained 
order and economy in the management of the state ; but the dissimula- 
tion she had been accustomed to practise during her perilous youth, 
rendered the crooked path of falsehood, and the subtei'fuges of a dis- 
ingenuous policy agreeable to her. She displayed the latter more 
especially, in her conduct towards Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, who, 
in character, personal qualities, and history, formed a contrast to her 
neighboring rival. Whilst Elizabeth, from the misfortunes of her youth, 
had carried with her into life a dowry of unamiability, severity, false- 
hood, and envy, the beautiful Mary, after a youth passed in joy and 
happiness, had brought to the Scottish throne a cheerful and engaging 
nature, an open heart, and a joyous disposition ; and whilst the English 
queen was closely bound to Protestantism, and united in one Church with 
her people, Mary held ftist to the Catholic faith and the papacy, in the 
midst of a rude nation, who, with their own hands, had raised the Pres- 
byterian Church to be the Church of the kingdom, and who detested the 
mass as idolatry. Her private chapel was attacked, and the stern 
reformer, Knox, pronounced severe discourses against her from the 
pulpit of the palace, as the propliets had once done against the idolatrous 
kings of Israel. 

§ 367. Mary united herself in a second marriage with 
Darnley, a Scotch nobleman, who had been brought up in 
England. The union, however, proved unfortunate. The vain, unthink- 
ing husband, abandoned to the councils of insincere friends, found plea- 
sure in nothing but hunting and feasting ; and was indignant at finding 



252 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

that the queen neglected him, and bestowed her confidence on the singer, 
Ivizzio, from Turin, Avho conducted her correspondence with the Guises 
and the pope. Darnley, urged on by jealousy, and a feeling of injured 
honor, and irritated by malicious friends, formed a conspiracy with some 
nobles, — and Mary's favorite, pierced by many daggers, fell 
lifeless before the eyes of his mistress, in her own chamber. 
This horrible deed filled the heart of the queen with bitterness against 
her husband, of whose guilt, despite his denial, she felt convinced. She 
separated herself more and more from him, entertained thoughts of a 
divorce, and turned her favor upon Bothwell, another Scottish nobleman. 
It was not till Darnley fell ill that she appeared to lay aside her displea- 
sure. She attended upon him with the greatest assiduity, in a remote 
February 10 garden house. But the inhabitants of Edinburgh were 
1507. awakened one night, during Mary's absence, by a dreadful 

explosion. The garden house was found shattered to pieces, and Darn- 
ley's body, at some distance, apparently suffocated. The public voice 
pointed out Bothwell as the perpetrator of the deed ; and three months 
after, he was Mary's husband. Was it at all wonderful that she was 
accused of being an accomplice in the murder ? Irritated at this criminal 
marriage, the Scottish nobility took up arms. Bothwell fled before the 
battle was fought, and led the life of a freebooter near the Hebrides, but 
was taken by the Danes, and died in prison, insane. ' Mary was led in 
triumph to Edinburgh, amidst the execrations of her people, and then 
imprisoned in a solitary castle on the island of Lochleven, whei'e she was 
compelled to abdicate her crown, and to transfer the government to her 
half-brother, Murray, during the minority of her son, James. Mary, 
indeed, escaped, and found assistance from the powerful family of Hamil- 
ton ; but having been overcome in a battle, she would have fallen a 
second time into the hands of her enemies, had she not fled 
with the greatest haste into England, to seek protection fz-om 
Elizabeth. 

§ 368. The queen of England declined every interview with Mary 
until the latter should have cleared herself from the charge of having 
murdered her husband ; and since Mary, as an independent sovereign, 
would not submit herself to an English tribunal, it was considered neces- 
sary to retain her in England. But her presence soon endangered Eliza- 
beth's safety. The duke of Noi-folk attempted to gain Mary's hand, but 
lost first his freedom and afterwards his life. The ancient Church still 
numbered many adherents in the northern counties ; the earls of North- 
umberland and Westmoreland raised the standard of rebellion, with the 
purpose of setting Mary at liberty, and restoring the Catholic Church. 
Their undertaking failed. Northumberland, given up by the 
Scots as a fugitive, died upon the scaffold. Mary was sus- 
pected as an accomplice ; she was removed from that neighborhood and 



ELIZABETH AND MARY STUART. 253 

more closely watclied. All the efforts of foreign courts to pi'ocure her 
liberation were fruitless. The disturbed state of Scotland, where the 
rage of party was leading to assassination and civil war, and the religious 
contests on the continent, seemed to render her continued imprisonment 
necessary. At this juncture, Babmgton, with a few companions, embraced 
the project of murdering Elizabeth, and placing Mary, by the aid of 
Spanish troops, upon the English throne. Their purpose was discovered. 
The conspirators died upon the scaffold, and when it appeared, upon 
examination, that Mary Avas privy to the plot, the court pronounced her 
guilty, and Elizabeth was requested by the parliament, for the preserva- 
tion of religion and the peace of the country, and for the security of her 
own person, to let justice take its course. She wished for the death of her 
enemy, but she feared the consequences. At length, the struggle ended. 
Elizabeth signed the death-warrant, and Burleigh had it hastily executed. 
Mary's head fell on the 7th of February, 1587, in the nineteenth year 
of her imprisonment and the forty-fifth of her life. She died with firm- 
ness, and true to her faith. Elizabeth, however, complained that her 
minister had ordered the execution against her commands, and punished 
her secretary, Davison, by fine and imprisonment, for having let the 
warrant go out of his hands. 

§ 369. The pope and Philip II. heard of the deed with horror. The 
former outlawed the heretical queen, and summoned the Catholic powers 
to vengeance ; the latter fitted out the vast Armada (§ 359), for the 
purpose of subjecting England and the Netherlands at one blow, and of 
afterwards founding a Catholic empire in the west of Europe, under the 
supremacy of Spain. But the destruction of the "Invincible Fleet" 
raised the renown of England and its queen, and laid the foundation of 
Britain's empire of the sea and of the greatness of her commerce. From 
this time, her trade, her navigation, and her colonies, received a vast 
impulse. Drake, the celebrated circumnavigator of the globe, and other 
maritime heroes, had discovered the element on which the power and 
glory of England were to be raised. 

It was only in Ireland that Elizabeth's undertakings were unsuccessful. 
This island, which for centuries had been conquered, but never taken 
possession of, had been raised into a kingdom by Henry YIIL, and sub- 
jected to the religious laws of England. But it was only a small pro- 
portion of the population, namely, the British colonists, Avho received the 
Reformation ; the native Irish remained true to their ancient faith and 
clergy. Elizabeth attempted to bring about a closer political and eccle- 
siastical union between the island and England. The earl of Tyrone, 
one of the military chiefs, opposed himself to this project, and obtained 
help from Spain and Rome. Upon this, the chivalrous earl of Essex, 
to whom the queen had transferred the favor she had so long bestowed 
upon his unworthy father-in-law, the earl of Leicester, received the go- 

22 



2-54 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

vernorship of Ireland. But instead of subduing Tyrone, he concluded a 
disadvantageous treaty with him. Essex, by this means, incurred tlie 
displeasure of the queen ; and when, instead of waiting quietly for a 
more favorable time, he formed a plot with James of Scotland, and at- 
tempted to compel Elizabeth by an insurrection to appoint James her 
successor, he was seized, and beheaded in the Tower, at the age of thirty- 
three. Grief and remorse at the death of her favorite, and the con- 
sciousness that the affections of her people had much cooled towards her, 
embittered the last years of the queen's life to such a degree, that she 
passed days and nights in tears on the cushions with which the floors 
were covered, till her death, at the age of seventy years, put an end to 
her sorrows. On her death bed, she appointed Mary's son, James of 
Scotland, her successor. 



e. CULTURE AND LITERATURE IN THE CENTURY OF THE 

REFORMATION. 

§ 370. civilization received a mighty impulse during the sixteenth 
century in all countries. Schools were improved and universities mul- 
tiplied ; art and literature were fostered and supported. The works of 
the ancients, which were everywhere translated and explained, awakened 
new views and cultivated the taste ; and the mental energy that had 
been called into existence by the disputes respecting religion and the 
Church, furthered the general cultivation and enlightenment, and exalted 
literary activity. The interest in intellectual gifts produced marvellous 
creations in the regions of art and science. Germany and Italy were 
considered the chief seminaries of civilization. 

1. The science of antiquity was more especially cultivated and devel- 
oped in the numerous universities of Germany, and those learned semi- 
naries that rested upon the study of the ancient classical literature were 
established by the efforts of Melancthon, which extended themselves 
over all countries. It was in Germany that Nicholas Coper- 

v-/ Op 61x110 Lib • 

A. D. nicus, the great astronomer of Thorn, showed that the 

1473-1543. Ptolemaic system of the universe, the truth of which had 
remained unquestioned for fifteen hundred years, was founded on incor- 
rect data ; that the sun remained stationary in the midst of the planetary 
system, but that the earth, like the other planets, in addition to the revo- 
lution on its axis, had besides an extremely regular elliptical motion 
Kepler around the sun. And Kepler, one of the greatest thinkers 

A. D 1571 - of any age, sought, in the spirit of Plato, for the laws that 
1631. govern the eternal order of the world, with the inspiration 

of a prophet, and the creative power of a poet. Unappreciated, how- 
ever, and persecuted by religious zealots, he led a melancholy life, in the 



LITERATURE IN THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 255 

midst of oppressive anxieties for the means of living. It fared no bet- 
Galileo *^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ great contemporary, Galileo of Pisa, who, be- 
A. D. 1565- cause he shared the astronomical opinions of Copernicus, 
^^^1- was summoned before the tribunal of the Inquisition, and 
compelled to renounce his opinions on his knees. He was obliged after 
this to linger for some years in the dungeons of the Inquisition, where 
he contracted an affection of the eyes, which afterwards terminated in 
blindness. 

In the mean time, the "Meistersong," a kind of burgher poetry in 
Hans Sach=; which Hans Sachs, a shoemaker of Nuremberg, particularly 
A. D. 1494- distinguished himself, was flourishing in the German towns ; 
^^''^- and Sebastian Brandt of Strasburg (author of the " Ship of 

1458-I5'>i Fools"), and John Fischart of Mayence, raised satirical di- 
Fiscliart, A. d. dactic poetry to high perfection. Luther, however, was the 
1591. creator of German prose by bis translation of the Bible, and 

the founder of German sacred poetry by his spiritual hymns. 

The Germans were also distinguished at this time in the fine arts. 
The pictures of Albert Durer (a. d. 1548), Hans Holbein (a. d. 1563), 
and Lucas Cranach (a. d. 1553), are still much esteemed, although they 
do not rival those of their great Italian contempoi-aries, Michael Angelo 
(a. d. 1563), Raphael (a. d. 1520), Titian (a. d. 1576), Leonardo da 
Vinci (a. d. 1519), or Correggio (a. d. 1543). 

2. In Italy, the flourishing period of art and literature, which had 
commenced in the fifteenth century, continued throughout the whole of 
Maccliiavelli, the sixteenth. In Florence, Macchiavelli, one of the acutest 
A. D. 1527. of thinkers and most politic of statesmen, composed his re- 
markable works, " Discourses on Titus Livius," " History of Florence," 
" The Prince," which still excite universal admiration. In the much 
talked-of book " The Prince," Macchiavelli presents the picture of a ruler 
who, without regard to virtue, morality, or religion, knows how to esta- 
blish his own absolute power, and to make his own will the law. Freedom 
and national pi'osperity are as little regarded in this book as truth and 
justice ; intellect alone is held in any estimation. For this reason, a 
Ariosto, faithless system of policy is distinguished by the epithet, 
A. D. 1474 - Macchiavellian. In Ferrara, Ariosto wrote the fascinating 
^, ■ and sportive heroic poem of " Orlando Furioso;"and the 
Tasso A. D. melancholy Torquato Tasso celebrated the first crusade in 
1595. beautiful language in his " Jerusalem Delivered." 

3. The sixteenth century was the golden age of art and literature in 
Cervantes Spain and Portugal also. Cervantes, in his comico-satirical 
A. D. romance of " Don Quixote," has represented, with such art, 
1547-1616. a man who completely mistakes the misty creations of a 
world of dreams for actual existences, and fights for an object that exists 
nowhere but in his own imagination, that the name of his hero has be- 



256 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Lope de Vega, come proverbial. The dramatic poetry of Spain reached its 

A. D. 1552- cidminating point in Lope de Vega and Calderon. The 

Portuguese poet, Camoens, has ennobled the great epoch of 

Calderon, ^^^ discovery of India in his poem of the " Lusiad." During 
A. D. 1600- , -^ . , ^^ _ ,. , , ,. * 

1687. ^ passage home from the Ji,ast Indies, he lost his property 

Camoens ^J ^ shipwreck, and saved nothing but his poem, that he 
A. D. 1524- held fast with his teeth as he swam. In Portugal, he gi*a- 
1569. dually fell into such poverty that he had bread collected by 

an Indian servant to prevent his dying of hunger. 

4. In England, William Shakspeare, one of the greatest poets of any 
Shakspeare, age, gave its full perfection to dramatic poetry, whether 
A. D. 1564- tragedy or comedy. His great dramas are founded either 
1^1*5. upon historical events ("Henry IV.," " Richard III."), or 

upon the ordinary events of human life ("Macbeth," " Leai'," "Romeo 
and Juliet," "Othello") ; the best known of his comedies are, " Mid- 
summer Night's Dream," and " The Merry Wives of Windsor ; " in the 
latter, the fat Falstaff, the companion of Henry V., and the type of a 
comic character, plays the chief part. 



III. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. THE TIIIRTr years' WAR (a. d. 1618-1648). • 

a. BOHEMIA, palatinate, LOWER GERMANY, TILLY. APPEARANCE 

OF WALLENSTEIN. 

§ 371. Whilst the dai'k fanaticism of Philip II. was plunging the 
Ferdinand I. West of Europe into a bloody religious war, arms were at 
A. D. 1556- rest in Germany under the gentle government of Ferdinand 
^^^^" I. and Maximilian II. Both these princes upheld the Peace 

Maximilian, ^f Religion with impartiality and justice (§ 340). But when, 
1576 ' after the premature death of Maximilian II., his son, Rudolf 

R 1 If n ^^'^ ^'^*^ ^^^^ been brought up in Spain, came to the throne, 
A. D. 1576- complaints arose of the infringement of the law, and of vio- 
1612. lation of liberty of conscience. Rudolf, a prince zealously 

devoted to the Catholic Church, but possessed of slender talents for 
government, neglected the affairs of his kingdom for the study of astro- 
nomy, painting, and antiquities, and trusted to the advice of the Jesuits, 
who strewed with busy hands the seeds of religious discord, and called 
forth strife, party-spirit, and confusion, both in the German empire and 
in the hereditary states of Austria. When the archbishop, Gebhard of 



THE THIRTY YEARS' AVAR. 257 

Cologne, went over to the evangelical Church, that he might marry the 
beautiful countess of Mansfeld, he was deprived of his dignity ; a pro- 
ceeding that was declared by the evangelical States to be an infringe- 
ment of the "spiritual proviso." The archduke, Ferdinand, bred up and 
guided by the Jesuits, refused the numerous Protestants in Styria, 
Carinthia, and Krain, the religious liberties they had hitherto enjoyed ; 
had the evangelical churches and schools pulled down, and the Bibles 
burnt, and drove out of the country, without mercy, all those who refused 
to attend the mass. The imperial city of Donauworth, which was cliiefly 
Protestant, was placed under the ban for disturbing a procession, taken 
possession of by the impatient duke, Maximilian I. of Bavaria, and 
deprived of its Protestant worship. It was in vain that the evangelical 
Estates presented complaints ; the weak and indifferent emperor gave no 
redress. It was on this account that a number of evangelical princes 
A D 1608 ^^^ imperial cities concluded a Pi'otestant Union, at the 
instigation of the Elector of the Palatinate, for mutual 
A. D. 1609. assistance against aggression and violence. This Union was 
opposed by the Catholic League, formed by Maximilian of Bavaria and 
the spiritual Electors (Mayence, Ti-eves, and Cologne), and some bishops 
(Wurzburg, Augsburg, &c.). In this manner, Germany was again 
divided : the League united itself with Spain ; the Union secured the aid 
of Henry of France and the Dutch. The death of the childless duke of 
Cleves and Berg, which occasioned a quarrel for his inheritance between 
the palgrave of Neuburg, who had gone over to the Catholic Church, 
and the evangelical Elector of Brandenburg, gave the first occasion for 
hostilities between the two religious parties. After a long and destruc- 
tive war, a division was agreed upon, by which Cleves was allotted to 
Brandenburg, and Berg with Dusseldorf to the Palatinate. 

§ 372. The incompetence and carelessness of Rudolf threatened to 
destroy all respect for the royal house of Hapsburg. His relatives, 
therefore, compelled him to surrender Austria and Hungary to his 
brother, Matthias. Rudolf, who was extremely favorable to the Bohe- 
mians, whose capital, Prague, he had chosen for a residence, maintained 
them for some time in their allegiance by the granting of letters patent, 
which gave to the UtraquisTts and Lutherans freedom of conscience, 
equality with the Catholics, and their own defenders. But he was 
obliged at length to relinquish this kingdom also, with its surrounding 

^„^^ territories, to Matthias, so that, when death put an end to his 
A. D. 1611. . . ' ' ' ^ 

ingloi'ious life, he was in possession of nothing but the power- 
less imperial throne. 

Matthias -^"^ Matthias had just as little energy or talents for govern- 

A. D. ment as Rudolf ; and being old and childless, he appointed 

his cousin, Ferdinand of Carinthia, his successor in Austria, 
Hungary, and Bohemia. The elevation of this rigid Catholic filled the 
22* 



258 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Protestants (Utraquists, Lutherans) in Bohemia with alarm for their 
religious liberties. This alarm increased, when, upon the buildin"- of 
two Protestant churches on the territories of the abbot of Brunau and 
of the monastery of Grab, near Toplitz, a decision was given, that no 
evangelical church should be erected upon ecclesiastical property ; and 
in consequence of this prohibition, one church was shut up and the other 
destroyed. The defenders, who saw in this an infi'ingement of the letters 
patent, held a meeting, and proposed a remonstrance to the emperor, who 
was then absent in Plungary. The reply confirmed the prohibition, and 
contained a severe reproof to the complainers. Irritated at this, the de- 
fenders, under the guidance of the Count von Thurn, marched in arms 
to the council-house, for the purpose of calling to account the imperial 
council, to whom they attributed the offensive writing. After a short 
dispute, the irritated Protestants seized upon two of the councillors vv'ho 
were present, 3Iartinitz and Slawata, who were particularly offensive to 
them as zealous Catholics, and threw them, together with the secretary, 
Fabricius, out of the castle window. But notwithstanding the height, 
and the shots that were fired after them, they all escaped with their 
lives. Upon this, the evangelical Estates established a new government, 
expelled the Jesuits, and fitted out an army under the command of 
Thurn. The intelligence of these proceedings hastened the 

May 20 1C19. i o 

death of Matthias, who was already ailing. He died at the 
moment in which Thurn, supported by the brave general, Ernest von 
Mansfeld, defeated the imperial troops who had marched 
into Bohemia, and appeared with his army before the gates 
of Vienna. The oppressed Protestants of Austria entered into an alli- 
ance with Thurn, their ambassadors forced their way into the imperial 
palace, and demanded from Frederick, with threats, religious toleration 
and an equality of their rights with those of the Catholics. The danger 
was pressing ; but Ferdinand resolutely refused every concession, till the 
arrival of Dampierre's dragoons freed him from constraint. Unfavorable 
weather and a deficiency in pi'ovisions "compelled Thurn to retreat. 

§ 373. Shortly after this, Ferdinand II. was elected emperor of Ger- 
many in Frankfort ; but before his coronation took place, the Estates of 
Bohemia and Moravia fell off" from the house of Austria, and chose for 
king the Elector, Frederick V., of the Palatinate, the head of the Pro- 
testant Union. It was in vain that well-disposed friends warned him of 
the dangerous gift ; — the voice of his haughty wife, a daughter of James I. 
of England, the exhortations of his Calvinistic court preacher, Scultetus, 
November ^^^^ his own ambition, determined the result. The vain and 
1619- weak man assumed the Bohemian throne, and hastened to 

receive homage and be invested with the crown at Prague, where he 
squandered the time in idle shows, gave himself up to luxurious living, 
and offended the Utraquists and Lutherans in Bohemia by his zeal for 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAK. 259 

Calvinism. Ferdinand's conduct was altogether different. He concluded 
an alliance with the shrewd Maximilian of Bavaria, who had been edu- 
cated by the Jesuits, and who was the head of the well-provided League; 
and who soon ordered his able general, Tilly, the Netherlander, to march 
November 7, "^vith his army into Bohemia. The battle at the White Hill 
1620. w'as soon fought, in which Frederick's exhausted troops were 

defeated by the superior force of the enemy, and sought their safety in 
headlong flight. A single hour decided the fate of Bohemia. Frederick 
lost courage and discretion so completely, that he fled with the greatest 
haste across Silesia to the Netherlands, pursued by the imperial sentence 
of outlawry, which deprived him of his hereditary possessions of the 
Palatinate. Bohemia and Moravia were again in a few months sub- 
jected to Austria. F'erdinand cut the letters patent to pieces with his 
own hand ; twenty-seven of the most illustrious nobles died on the scaf- 
fold; hundreds expiated their offences by the forfeiture of their goods; 
and the confiscated property was bestowed upon the Jesuits and other 
religious orders. Tyranny, oppression, and seduction, gave a complete 
ti'iumph to the Catholic religion in a few decades, after upwards of 
30,000 families had left the country. Shortly after this, the Union, 
which had looked quietly on during these proceedings, was dissolved in 
the midst of universal contempt. 

§ 374. After the subjugation of Bohemia, Tilly marched against the 
Palatinate of the Rhine. Three courageous men ventured to take the 
field in the cause of the outlawed Electors and endangered Protestantism: 
Christian of Brunswick, administrator of the bishopric of Halberstadt, a 
rude soldier, who presented himself as the defender of the electoress 
Elizabeth, and who, having collected a troop of soldiers, marched plun- 
dering through Westphalia towards the Maine ; Ernest von Mansfeld, a 
knightly adventurer, who maintained his troops by plunder and levying 
contributions, and treated the bishoprics and monasteries on the Maine 
and Rhine with great severity ; and the margrave, George Frederick of 
Baden-Durlach. The two latter united gained a victory 
over Tilly at Wiesloch (Mingolsheim). But when the vic- 

m n.u ^^^^ shortly after separated themselves, Georire Frederick, 

May Cth. i /. n • ' o j 

the follownig month, lost the battle of Wimpfen, and would 

have himself fallen into the hands of the enemy, had not 400 of the 

citizens of Pforzheim covered his retreat by an heroic death. A few 

months later. Christian of Brunswick also suffered a defeat 
June 20th. 

near Hochst, from Tilly's veteran troops, and marched iu 
conjunction with Mansfeld into the Netherlands, to obtain help from 
England, whilst the League general stormed Heidelberg, Manheim, and 
Frankenthal, sent the Heidelberg library to Rome, and filled every place 
with blood and plunder. In the following year, Maximilian of Bavaria 
received the electorship of the Palatinate, as a reward from the Diet of 
Regensberg. « 



260 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

§ 375. Ferdinand, not content with the defeat of his enemies, wished 
to make use of his superiority to restore the Catholic Church and to sup- 
press Protestantism. This occasioned anxiety, and procured the enemies of 
the emperor the assistance of England, Holland, and Denmark. Mansfeld, 
Christian of Brunswick, and the margrave of Baden, appeared again in 
the field provided with troops and money, and were still supported by 
Christian IV. of Denmark, who was induced to assume arms, partly by 
religious zeal, and partly by the hope of increasing his territories. A 
new storm burst forth. Upon this, the emperor, to whom the dependence 
upon the League and the great authority of Maximilian appeared dan- 
gerous, determined to raise an army of his own. In this undertaking, 
Albert of Wallenstein, a Bohemian nobleman, offered him his assistance. 
In possession of a vast property that he had gained by marriage, Wal- 
lenstein presented himself before Ferdinand with the offer of supporting an 
army of 50,000 men at his own expense, if he were allowed the unlimited 
command of them, and the privilege of indemnifying himself from the con- 
quered lands. After some hesitation, Ferdinand acceded to the proposal of 
the bold adventurer, and granted him the governorship of Friedland,on the 
northern frontier of Bohemia, raised him to the office of Elector of the 
empire, and afterwards conferred upon him the dignity of duke. The 
war now extended itself into the North of Germany. But when Wal- 
lenstein with his wild bands took possession of the shores of the Elbe, 
and effected a junction with Tilly, the army of the League and emperor 
soon obtained the advantage. Mansfeld suffered a defeat from the 
Friedlanders at the bridge of Dessau, and was overtaken by death at 
Bosnia, as he was conducting the remains of his army by a difficult 
march through Hungary into the Netherlands. Christian of 
Brunswick sunk into the grave in the same year, and Chris- 
tian IV. was defeated by Tilly at Lutter, near the Baren- 
August 27. , , -,,■,■ T^ 1 TT- 11 1 

berg, and compelled to retreat nito Denmark. His ally, the 

duke of Mecklenburg, was obliged to leave his territories, of which, 
from that time, Wallenstein, with the emperor's permission, took posses- 
sion ; Holstein, Schleswic, and Jutland soon fell into the hands of the 
imperialists in the midst of horrible devastations ; Pomerania and Brand- 
enburg were compelled to receive imperial garrisons ; the whole north 
laid subdued at the feet of the emperor, and the Protestant princes and 
cities awaited with fear and trembling tlie destiny that it should please 
Austria and Bavaria to award them. In this strait, Stralsund gave an 
ennobling example of patriotism and heroic courage. The citizens reso- 
lutely refused to admit an imperial garrison within their walls. Here- 
upon, Wallenstein advanced upon the town with his formidable army, 
and swore that he would take it if it were bound to heaven with chains. 
But all his attacks were frustrated by the strength of the place and the 
heroism of the citizens. After he had encamped for ten weeks before 



THE THIRTY TEARS' WAR. 261 

the city, and sacrificed 12,000 men, he gave up the attempt. This result 
checked Wallenstein's plans of conquest, and brought the war to a more 
rapid termination. Christian IV. recovered his devastated 
lands by the peace of Liibeck, but was obliged to promise 
that he would refrain from any farther interference in the affairs of 
Germany. 

§ 37 G. Austria was again victorious ; and the more decisive her victo- 
ry, the greater was to be the triumph of the Catholic Church. The 
Protestant worship was suppressed by violence in all the conquered and 
occupied lands, and the supremacy of Catholicism gradually prepared 
for. With this object, the emperor, at the instigation of the spiritual 
Electors, published the Edict of Eestitution, by virtue of 
' " ' which, all foundations and ecclesiastical property that had 
been confiscated since the treaty of Passau (§ 337), were to be restored 
to the Catholic Church, the Calvinists were excluded from the religious 
peace, and the Catholic Estates were not to be interfered with in their 
attempts to convert their subjects. This arrangement, which threatened 
to wrest a great number of bishoprics, and almost all the foundations and 
abbeys of northern Germany, from the hands of their present proprie- 
tors, filled the whole of the Protestant part of the country with terror 
and alarm, and prolonged the destructive civil war. Many princes and 
cities refused compliance, and the emperor found himself obliged to re- 
tain his army under arms to give efiect to the execution of the Edict. 
But this army was no longer under the command of Wallenstein. For 
when the princes made a general complaint, at the Diet of Pegensburg, 
of the frightful ravages and barbai'ous method of warfare pursued by 
the duke of Friedland, and Maximilian imperatively denranded the re- 
moval of his presuming and overbearing rival, Ferdinand, who wished to 
produce a favorable disposition towards the contemplated election of his 
son, found himself compelled to j^ronounce Wallenstein's deposition. The 
general was informed of the resolution whilst busied with his astrologi- 
cal studies. He retired to his Bohemian estates, where, in proud repose, 
and in the enjoyment of kingly wealth, he awaited the time when his 
presence would be again required. Tilly assumed the command over the 
assembled host, and marched against Magdeburg, which had opposed the 
execution of the Edict of Restitution. But whilst the Protestant Estates 
of Germany, helpless and overawed, bent before the superior power of 
Austria, and looked forward in melancholy expectation for the postponed 
execution of the Edict of Restitution, a fresh hero made his ap- 
pearance on the soil of Germany — the Swedish king, Gustavus Adol- 
phus. 



262 



THE MODERN EPOCH. 



0. INTERFERENCE OF SWEDEN. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND 

WALLENSTEIN. 

§ 377. Gustavus Adolphus, the grandson of Gustavus Vasa (§ 349), 
determined to interfere in the war of Germany, partly to defend Pro- 
testantism, and partly to increase the power of Sweden. He was sup- 
ported by the shrewd Cardinal Richelieu (§ 400), who at that time 
governed France, and who looked with jealousy upon the increasing 
power of the house of Hapsburg. As soon as Gustavus Adolphus had 

effected a landing on the coast of Pomei'ania, the old duke 
June 24, 1630. ° ' 

of the country surrendered his lands, which had been fright- 
fully ravaged by the imperial troops, to Sweden. The piety of Gustavus, 
and the strict discipline of his soldiers, who assembled themselves twice 
a day around their field preachers, formed a striking contrast to the deso- 
lating mode of warfare pursued by Tilly and Wallenstein, so that the 
people everywhere greeted the Swedes and their high-minded king as 
rescuers and dehverers. Not so the princes, who, from fear of the em- 
Febraary, peror's vengeance, rejected the alliance that was offered 
1631. them, and at the Diet of Leipsic, embraced the resolution of 

observing a neutral position. The Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony 
refused permission to the Swedes to march through their territories ; and 
M ifi ifiqi ^^^^^^* Gustavus Adolphus was delayed by negotiations on 

this subject, Magdeburg, after repeated assaults, was taken 
and destroyed by Pappenheim and Tilly. The barbarous troops, urged 
on by a desire for vengeance, and a love of plunder, burst into the luck- 
less town, which was surrendered to them for three days' plunder, and 
which now became the scene of the most revolting horrors, till a confla- 
gration, which extended itself on all sides, converted it at length into a 
heap of ashes. Two churches and a few fishermen's huts, were the sole 
remains of this flourishing imperial city. 

§ 378. The destroyer of Magdeburg now turned a threatening aspect 
towards Saxony. The Elector, in the anguish of his heart, concluded 
an alliance with Gustavus Adolphus, that he might be able, by the help 
of Sweden, to prevent the entrance of Tilly's incendiary troops into his 
September 7, territories. The battle of Leipsic and Breitenfeld was soon 
1G31. fought, where the imperial array was completely defeated. 

Tilly, who was himself in danger of his life, was obliged, after a great 
loss, to retreat rapidly into the south, whilst the Swedes turned towards 
the Rhine and the Maine. Before the winter was over, the bishopric of 
Wurzburg, and the greater part of the Lower Palatinate, were in the 
hands of the Swedes; and the towns of the Rhine also fell into the 
power of Gustavus, after he had accomplished the passage of the Rhine 
at Oppenheim and driven back the Spaniards. In the spring, he marched 
upon Nuremburg-on-the-Lech, where Tilly had occupied a strong posi- 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 263 

tion. The Swedes forced a passage across the vigorously defended river. 
During the storming of the intrenchments, Tilly was so severely wounded 
by a cannon-ball that he died fourteen days after, at Ingolstadt, his mind 
busied with military aifairs in the very hour of death. War filled the 
entire soul of this hero. Simple and moderate in his mode of living, he 
despised wealth and possessions, as well as titles and dignities. Sensual 
enjoyments were as unknown to him, as high cultivation or nobility of 
mind- 
After the occupation of Augsburg, where the evangelical form of wor- 
ship was again restored, Gustavus Adolphus marched into Bavaria, 
and took possession, as an indulgent conquei'or, of Munich, which had 
been deserted by the court. A fine, and carrying off 140 concealed can- 
nons, was the only punishment inflicted by the king upon the trembling 
Bavarians. 

§ 379. In the mean time, the emperor, in his necessity, had again had 
recourse to "Wallenstein, and prevailed upon him by prayers and great 
concessions, to raise a fresh array and to take the supreme command. 
After a successful campaign against the Saxons in Bohemia, Wallenstein, 
in conjunction with the Bavarians, marched into Franconia, where the 
Swedes had occupied a strong position near ISTuremburg. Here the hos- 
tile armies lay encamped opposite each other for months, without coming 
to an engagement, till at length, all the land for seven miles around the 
spot was wasted, and even the abundant stores of Nuremburg began to 
fail. Hereupon, Gustavus resolved to attack the strong camp of Wallen- 
stein, but the gallant assailers were driven back by the tremendous dis- 
charge of artillery. The attempt, after a severe loss, was obliged to be 
relinquished, upon which the Wallensteiners marched into Saxony. The 
November 16, Swedes soon followed them hither, and the eventful battle 
1632. of Lutzen, where the Swedes triumphed, but their king 

found the death of a hero in the tumult of the fight, took place upon a 
foggy day in November. Pappenheim, the gallant leader of cavalry, 
was also borne from the field of battle mortally wounded ; and Wallen- 
stein found himself compelled to leave the field to the enemy, and to 
retreat into Bohemia with his defeated army. The Swedes dragged the 
body of their heroic king, plundered and defaced by the hoofs of horses, 
from beneath the dead, and had it committed to the earth in his native 
land. 

§ 380. After the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish chancel- 
lor. Axel Oxenstiern, a prudent and energetic statesman, undertook the 
conduct%3f the war in Germany, after he had prevailed upon a number 
of the evangelical princes and cities, by the alliance of Heilborn, to 
continue steadfast in the treaty they had entered into with the 
king of Svv'eden. Bernhard of Weimar and the Swedish 
general, Horn, stood by his side as the chief military leaders. France 



264 THE MODERN EPOCU. 

gave supplies of money. Thus this mischievous ^Yar continued to rage. 
Bavaria was severely visited by the Swedes, who. since the death of their 
king, had not been a whit behind their opponents in the destructive way 
of carrying on the war ; and the Friedlanders behaved in such a way in 
Silesia, that the prosperity of the land was for a long time destroyed. 
But VVallenstein's course was approaching its termination. His dilatory 
way of conducting the war, and his unintelligible lingering in Bohemia, 
were made use of by his numerous enemies and enviers to his destruc- 
tion. He was accused of entertaining the project of entering into an 
alliance with Sweden, and of placing the crown of Bohemia upon his 
own head ; it was for this reason that he had set at liberty the captive 
Count Thurn, the hereditary enemy of Austria ; and the contract that 
had been entered into, by the mediation of Illo, between Wallenstein 
and the leaders of the different divisions for mutual adherence, pointed 
to revolt and treachery. The emperor, guided by the friends of Maxi- 
milian, by monks and Jesuits, who hated the duke on account of the 
freedom of his religious views, determined upon the destruction of his 
too powerful general. After the most influential leaders, Gallas, Picco- 
lomini, and Altringer, had been secured, Ferdinand pronounced Wallen- 
stein's deposition ; and when the latter marched towards Eger, with the 
most devoted of his troops, to be nearer a juncture with the Swedes, he 
Was assassinated, together with his most trusty adherents, Illo, Terska, 
February 25, ^nd Kinsky, by the Irishman, Butler, and a few confederates. 
1634. The vast possessions of the duke and his friends were con- 

fiscated, and presented to his betrayers and mui'derers. Honors, digni- 
ties, and wealth were the rewards of the criminals. Thus died Wal- 
lenstein, the terror of the people, and the idol of the soldiery. He pos- 
sessed an audacious and enterprising spirit, a commanding character, that 
was exalted by the taciturnity of his disposition and the gloomy severity 
of his aspect, and a boundless pride and ambition. When his lofty fig- 
ure, enveloped in a scarlet mantle, and with a red feather in the hat, was 
seen pacing through the camp, a strange horror took possession of the 
soldiers. 



C. TERMINATION OF THE WAR. PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

§ 381. After the death of Wallenstein, the imperial army marched 
into Bavaria, and defeated Bernhard of Weimar in the battle of Nord- 
Septembcr 6, , lingen. Several German princes took occasion from this to 
1634. conclude the peace of Prague with the emperor. J^ut the 

May, 1635.^ fiightful war was not yet terminated. Richelieu, who was 
not willing that the favorable moment for diminishing the power of the 
Hapsburgs, and extending the territories of France, should escape un- 
improved, promised efficient assistance, both in money and troops, to the 



TERMINATION OF THE WAR. 265 

Swedes, and supported Bernhard of "Weimar in his under- 
takings on the Upper Rhine. Tlie Swedish general, Baner, 
conquered Saxony and Thuringia, and converted the fertile country into 
a depopulated desert. Unspeakable calamities were press- 
2g3i7 ' ing upon the German nation, when the emperor, Ferdinand 
Ferdinand III. H-j sank into the grave, and was succeeded by his son of 
A. D. 1637- the same name. The warlike actions of Bernhard of Wei- 
^^^'' mar were crowned with success. He conquered Rheinfelden, 

Freiburg, and Breisach, and entertained the project of establishing an 
independent principality on either side of the Rhine. But Bernhard 
died suddenly in the flower of life, not without suspicion of 

July 18, 1639. . . , „ t- i . i i . ^ xi • 

poisonuig ; and the Jb rench took advantage or the cn-cum- 
stance to take his army into their own pay, and make themselves masters 
of Alsace. They soon crossed the Rhine and carried the war into the 
south of Germany, whilst the gallant Baner again visited the unfortunate 
Bohemia with the most frightful calamities. Bauer's audacious plan of 
breaking suddenly from his winter quarters, and seizing upon the Elec- 
tors and emperor at the Diet in Regensburg, had not the expected result. 
The breaking up of the frost and the arrival of the enemy compelled 
the Swedish general to a retreat, during which he died from the effects 
of his exertions and of an intemperate life. 

§ 382. Torstenson was Baner's successor ; he was the most talented 
disciple of the school of Gustavus Adolphus. On account of his suffer- 
ings from the gout, he was usually carried about in a litter ; nevertheless, 
the rapidity of his movements was the astonishment of the world. He 
overthrew the imperial army near Leipsic, and at the hill Tabor; pene- 
trated repeatedly into the heart of the Austrian states, and 
made the emperor tremble in his capital ; he then appeared 
unexpectedly on the Lower Elbe, took possession of Holstein and Schles- 
wic, and compelled the Danish king to a disadvantageous peace. At 
length, exhausted by illness, he laid down the leading staff", which was 
obtained by the gallant Wrangel. Wrangel, in conjunction with the 

,^,^ French general, Turenne, carried the war into Bavaria, 

A. T>. 1647. ° . ' ' 

compelled Maxunihan to fly, and to conclude a truce, and 

was about to unite himself with the Swedish general, Konigsmark, in 
Bohemia, when the news of the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia 
put an end to military operations. The war ended in Prague, where it 
had also taken its origin. 

§ 383. After five years of negotiations in Miinster and Osnaburg, the 
peace of Westphalia, which the people who were wearied out by the war 
demanded in despair, was at last concluded. France received the Aus- 
trian portion of Alsace, Sundgau, and Briesach; but was obliged to 
secure to the imperial cities both their former privileges, and their rela- 
tions to the German empire. Sweden received Upper Poraerania, the 

23 



266 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

island of Eugen, and the towns of vStettin, Weismar, &c., the bishoprics 
of Bremen and Verdun, and an indemnification in money. Brandenburg 
obtained the eastern part of Lower Pomerania, witli the bishoprics of 
Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Minden, &c. Saxony was indemnified by 
Lusatia; other princes Avith other cities, foundations, and bishoprics. 
Bavaria remained in possession of the Upper Palatinate and of the Electo- 
ral dignity ; and the Palatinate of the Rhine, with the eighth Electoral 
dignity, was restored to Charles Louis, the son of Frederick V., who died 
in the year 1632. The remaining princes and Estates retained their 
former possessions ; and Switzerland and the Low Countries were 
acknowledged as independent states. 

With regard to the atii\irs of the Church, it was arranged, after long 
disputes, that the treaty of Passau, and the religious peace of Augsburg, 
should be confirmed to the Protestants, the " spiritual proviso " abolished, 
and the peace extended to the Calvinists. In regard to the possession of 
ecclesiastical property, and the right of free exercise of religion, the year 
1624 was taken as the standard. Everything was to remain, or to become, 
what it had been at that time. At the same time, the privilege of reform- 
ation possessed by the princes ceased, and a free exercise of religion and 
equal civil rights were assured to the three Christian confessions. 

The farther consequences of the Thirty Years' War were : — 1. An 
increase of the power of the princes, which was the occasion of expensive 
courts, standing armies, a multitude of officials, and a high and regularly 
levied taxation. 2. A purity of faith in the Church, which was not 
founded upon mere warmth of religious feeling, but upon an unalterable 
veneration for the literal meaning of the Symbolical Books. 3. A decay 
of trade, of industry, and of profitable commerce. Though agriculture 
revived again, and the plough and the mattock restored its former aspect 
to the desolated country, the aforetime prosperity of Germany never 
returned. Many of the trading towns sunk into poverty ; the imperial 
towns were gradually overtaken by the princely residences ; and trade, 
industry, and wealth established their seats in Holland and England. 
German art and literature decayed ; everything native was neglected, 
and fashions, language, and poetry, borrowed from the French. From 
this period, the old German nationality succumbed to the influence of 
foreigners. 



'O 



d. SWEDEN UNDER CHRISTINA AND CHARLES X. CHANGE IN THE 
CONSTITUTION OF DENMARK. 

§ 884. After the premature death of Gustavus Adolphus, the crown 
devolved upon his daughter Christina, during whose minority the govern- 
ment was conducted by a senate, and the opportunity made use of to 

increase the privileges and property of the noble families. 

When the queen herself assumed the government, she assem- 



SWEDEN UNDER CHRISTINA AND CHARLES X. 267 

bled around her a brilliant court, summoned artists and learned men out 
of all the countries of Europe to Stockholm, and displayed a masculine 
spirit and character in everything. Her taste for art and her love of 
science found little support in the Protestant north, and she consequently 
never felt herself at home there. It was on this account, that, after a 
reign of ten years, Christina abdicated the throne of Sweden 
■ in favor of her cousin, Charles Gustavus of Pfalz-Zweiburc- 
ken, reserved an annuity for herself, and quitted the land of her fathers. 
She was solemnly admitted into the Roman Catholic Church at Innsbruck ; 
she then travelled through the Netherlands, France, and Italy, and at 
length established her permanent residence in a city filled with all the 
splendor of art — Rome. She died there in 1689. 

Charles X § 585. Christina's successor, Charles (X.) Gustavus, was 

A. D. a great warrior. He undertook a campaign for the conquest 

165-1 - 1660. of Poland, and made himself master of the western territories 
of that country, in conjunction with the great Elector, Frederick William 
of Brandenburg, to whom, in return, he promised the liberation of 
Prussia from the suzerainship of Poland. He would have gained pos- 
session of the whole country after the three days' battle of 
July, 1656. _. , ^ . , ^ , -^ . , 

Warsaw, had not an inroad oi the Danes into the territory 

of Sweden called him to a different scene. He left Poland, and marched 
with restless haste to the lower Elbe. The Danish army opposed no 
resistance, so that, before the commencement of the winter, Sleswic and 
Jutland, with the exception of the fortress of Fredericia, were in the 
hands of the Swedes. This fortress also was stormed, in the midst of 
winter, by so daring an enterprise that the king became jealous, and 
attempted to eclipse the exploit of his general by one still more ventur- 
ous. He crossed with his army on foot, over the frozen channel of the 
Little Belt, in January, into Funen, and a few days after, he passed the 
Great Belt into Zealand, in which passage two companies were drowned 
before his eyes. Here such confusion was occasioned by the sudden ap- 
pearance of the enemy, that defence was scarcely thought of, and pro- 
posals for peace were at once entered into. But great as were the 
sacrifices that the hardly-pressed Danish king offered to make, they were 
rejected by Charles, who hoped to bring the three Scandinavian king- 
doms under his own sceptre. But the gallant attitude of the citizens of 
Copenhagen, who, for a whole tv>'el.vemonth, bade defiance to the besieg- 
ing Swedes, and the assistance of the Dutch, prolonged the war till the 
sudden death of the king gave a turn to aflftiirs. The Swedish Diet, that 
conducted the government during the minority of Charles XL, concluded 
the peace of Oliva with the Poles, and that of Copenhagen 

A. D. 1660. • I 1 T-» o 

With the Danes. So great at that time was the respect for 
the military skill of the Swedes, that Sweden obtained large territories 
and important advantages by both these peaces. Prussia's independence 



268 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

of Poland was acknowledged. This war, in which the Danish nobility, 
who Avere in possession of great privileges and revenues, made an open 
display of their cowardice and selfishness, was made use of by the court 
to overthrow the existing constitution. The elective monarchy was con- 
verted into an hereditary one, and unlimited power conferred upon the 
king by the royal law. The nobility lost their former power and inde- 
pendent position, and were bound to the throne by titles and orders. In 
Sweden also, the vast power of the nobility was broken by the politic and 
Charles XI severe Charles XL, who rigidly demanded back the alien- 
A. D. 1660 - ated possessions of the crown ; the ancient institutions, 
1697. however, he allowed to remain. 



2. THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND AND THE EXPULSION OF THE 

STUARTS. 

a. THE FIRST TWO STUARTS (jAMES I. 1G03-I62o, CHARLES I. 

1625-1C49.) 

James I. § ^^^' ^^^^j's son, James I., was a weak and pedantic 

A. n. 1603- prince, of narrow mind and perverted mental constitution. 
1625. Bred up amidst the contentions of Presbyterian preachers, 

he was especially furnished with theological learning, and willingly 
engaged in controversies respecting disputed points of divinity. He was 
extremely desii'ous of gaining the reputation of a deeply learned man, 
both by his writing and conversation, and composed many books ; but he 
was utterly wanting in the penetration and shrewdness necessary in a 
ruler. A lover of peace from timidity, he sacrificed the honor of his 
country to its external quiet, and he was so prodigal of his favor as fre- 
quently to give himself up entirely to the guidance of unworthy favorites. 
Among these, George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, distinguished by the 
symmetry of his figure, exercised the greatest influence upon him. 
James entertained the most extravagant notions respecting the kingly 
power. He was firmly persuaded that it was derived immediately from 
God, and that it was unlimited ; and he sought for proofs of this in the 
Old Testament. It was on this account that he hated the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, where the king was nothing more than an ordinary 
member of the congregation ; but he was devoted to the Episcopal Church 
of England, in which the king was regarded as the head and source of 
all spiritual power. " No bishop, no king " became therefore the motto 
of all the Stuarts, and the introduction of the Episcopal Church into 
Scotland, and the suppression of the Puritans in England, was, hence- 
forth, the great object of the whole family. 

§ 387. There are three points particularly worthy of notice in the 
reign of James ; the gunpowder plot, the nuptial expedition of the prince 



THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 269 

of Wales, and the increasing opposition in parliament. 1. James had 
promised toleration to the English Catholics, for the purpose of rendering 
them favorable to his ascension of the throne. Scarcely, however, was 
the crown firmly settled upon his head, before he, like Elizabeth, levied 
a heavy capitation tax upon the Catholic non-conformists, that he might 
enrich his favorites, and defray the expenses of his court festivals. The 
deluded Catholics were exasperated. A conspiracy was formed for blow- 
ing up the king and all the members of the Upper and Lower House at 
the opening of parliament, by means of a mine of gunpowder to be formed 
in the cellar of the parliament-house, and then for changing the govern- 
ment. The plot was discovered and frustrated a short time before its 
execution, by a warning in wanting received by a Catholic peer. The 
chief conspirator (Guy Fawkes) was seized and executed ; the other 
participators in the plot fled, and excited an insurrection, in which most 
of them perished. The English Catholics were then compelled to pay a 
heavy fine, and to take a particular oath of fidelity to the king, 2. James, 
in his conceit, thought that no one but the daughter of a king of the first 
rank was a fit spouse for his son, and accordingly made proposals for the 
hand of one of the Spanish princesses. This project excited great dis- 
content among the English, both because they were unwilling to have a 
Catholic queen, and because the lengthened negotiations with Spain that 
were occasioned by it prevented the king from giving any assistance to 
his exiled Protestant son-in-law, Frederick V. of the Palatinate (§ 373). 
At length, the pope and the Spanish court gave their consent, and there 
appeared to be nothing more to prevent the imion. At this point, the 
frivolous Buckingham persuaded prince Charles to make a voyage to 
Madrid, and the king, who in his youth had surprised his Danish bride 
in a similar manner, favored the undertaking. They arrived at Madrid 
under assumed names, and were treated when recognized with great dis- 
tinction. But Buckingham's loose and insolent behavior gave offence. 
He made enemies of the Spanish court and prevented the marriage. 
Henrietta of France became the wife of Charles. 3. Elizabeth had 
given bnt little liberty to the parliament ; but the greatness of her talents 
for government, and her frugal administration, had afforded the people a 
compensation. But when James, in the conviction of his kingly perfec- 
tion, pursued the same path, abridged more and more the privileges of the 
parliament, and burthened the importation and exportation of every kind 
of goods with arbitrary taxes, a vehement opposition arose. It was in 
vain the king threatened, repeatedly dissolved the parliament, and placed 
the boldest speakers under arrest ; every fresh assembly held the same 
language ; and when James at length declared that their supposed rights 
were nothing but privileges for which they were indebted to the royal 
grace, the members of the Lower House registered a protest, 
by which they declared that the making of laws, the consent- 
23* 



270 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

ing to taxes, and the other befitting rights and privileges of parliament, 
were the undoubted native rights and inheritance of every Englishman. 
Enraged at this audacity, the king tore the leaf with his own hand from, 
the record, dissolved the parliament, and ordered a few deputies to be 
imprisoned ; but the spirit of resistance remained alive among the peo- 
ple, and displayed itself still more violently, when Charles I., a proud 
and obstinate ruler, took possession of the throne. 

Charles I. § 388. The government of Cliarles I. began with so vio- 

A. T>. 1625- lent a quarrel with the parliament, that the latter was twice 
■^^*^- dissolved during the first two years of his reign. The sup- 

port afforded to the German Protestants, and a war with France occa- 
sioned by the fickle Buckingham, occasioned great expenses. The king 
was consequently extremely indignant that the parliament was sparing in 
voting supplies, and had not once, during his whole government, consent- 
ed to the levying of tonnage and poundage upon exports and imports, as 
had hitherto been the custom. But when the French war took a disas- 
trous termination, and the blood and honor of England were ignomini- 
ously sacrificed, the third parliament threatened Bucking- 
ham with an impeachment. The king, to save his favorite, 
was obliged to recognize the validity of the Petition of Right presented 
by both houses, and by this means to grant its ancient privileges to the 
parliament, and liberty of speech and security of person and 
property to its members. Buckingham was shortly after as- 
sassinated, upon which the king removed Thomas Wentworth, an elo- 
quent member of the opposition, from parliament into the privy council, 
made him earl of Strafford and governor of Ireland, and followed his 
advice in everything. Wentworth, an ambitious and energetic man, now 
exerted his most zealous efforts to strengthen the power of the throne, 
and with this object, advised the king to govern for some time without a 
parliament. For the purpose of raising money for the current expenses, 
the government levied the usual imposts without the consent of the par- 
liament, laid heavy indirect taxes upon light wines, salt, soap, and similar 
articles, and revived ancient and obsolete claims of the throne, such as 
ship-money, which in former times had replenished the royal treasury. 
Charles, at the same time, endeavored to establish the Anglican Church 
on a firmer foundation, and to suppress the Puritans and Presbyterians, 
whose democratic opinions were every day extending among the people. 
In this undertaking, he made use of the services of Bishop Laud of 
London, whom he appointed to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Laud 
had the cathedral of St. Paul's consecrated afresh, enriched the churches 
with images and ornaments, and the worship of God with ceremonies, 
removed the Puritan preachers from their offices, and had heavy and 
degrading punishments pronounced by the courts (the High Commission 
and the judges of the Star Chamber) against all those who opposed the 



THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 271 

existing institutions. Thus Prynne, a Puritan writer, was condemned 
to be exposed in the pillory, to lose both his ears, and to be imprisoned 
for life, because, in a bulky volume he had written, he had condemned 
dancing, masks, and theatrical amusements, matters in which the court 
delighted. 

§ 389. These measures, which threatened to annihilate the civil and 
religious liberties of England, excited a great commotion over the whole 
country. John Hampden, a man of considerate and resolute character, 
refused payment of the ship-money, and conducted his defence before a 
court of justice so successfully, that the injustice of the government be- 
came most apparent. The deposed Puritan ministers wandered about the 
country, representing the proceedings of Laud as the commencement of 
the restoration of Catholicism, and, by their passionate exhortations, 
strewed the seeds of hatred against the court and the clergy. But the 
king retained his resolution ; and, unwarned by the discontent openly ex- 
pressed in England, he even attempted to introduce the Episcopal Church 
and the Anglican form of worship into Scotland, a country ever zealous 
for its faith. When the first attempt at celebrating divine service under 
the- new form was made in the cathedral church of Edinburgh, a tumult 
arose against the performance of the " worship of Baal." The crowd 
shouted " Pope ! " " Antichrist ! " " Stone him ! " hurled seats 
' ' at the priest, and drove him from the building. The old 
Covenant " for the protection of the pure religion and the Church against 
the errors and corruptions of Popery" was renewed amidst fasting and 
prayer. The bishops were driven away, the Presbyterian form of wor- 
ship restored, and the people called to arms. Upon this, Charles deter- 
mined to put down resistance by force ; but his troops gave Avay power- 
less before the zealous Scots, who marched into the field with prayer and 
psalmody; the hostile squadrons crossed the English borders, and nothing 
was left to the kinsr but to call together the parliament, after 

A D 1640 or' 

an interval of eleven years, and to ask the assistance of the 
nation. 

§ 390. The pai-liaraent now summoned is known in history under the 
name of the Long Parliament. The must influential members and 
speakers, as Hampden, Hollis, Hazelrig, Cromwell, &c., were opposed to 
absolute monarchical power and Episcopal Church government ; they 
wanted security for the ancient privileges of the Estates, and for religi- 
ous liberty. But during their contest against the absolute power of kings 
and bishops, they separated from each other : the more violent gradually 
acquired the democratical views of the Puritans ; and whilst they mingled 
civil and religious freedom together, they aimed at an object that was 
only attainable in a free republican commonwealth. The new parlia- 
ment immediately assumed a hostile attitude against the coui't and gov- 
ernment. Instead of at once voting supplies against the Scottish rebels, 



272 THE MODERN EPOCn. 

the parliament entered into a secret alliance with them, and was the 
cause that they maintained their position on the frontiers. It then com- 
menced its attack upon the arbitrary proceedings in Church and State. 
Strafford, " the great apostate," and Archbishop Laud, were impeached. 
It was in vain that the king, for the purpose of saving them, yielded to 
all the demands of the House ; it was in vain that Strafford defended 
himself for seventeen days with dignity and presence of mind, and prov- 
ed, in the most convincing manner, that the charges brought against 
him could not be regarded as high treason ; — the Lower House declared 
that he must be considered as convicted of an attempt to destroy the 
liberties of the country ; the Upper House embraced the same opinion, 
and the king had the weakness to confirm the sentence, and to sacrifice 
the most faithful of his servants to the rage of the people. Strafford 
died upon the scaffold with great composure. Laud, his 

May 11, 1641. • • ■ r , * • i +i 

companion m misfortune, was retained three years in con- 
finement, before his life also was put an end to by the axe of the execu- 
tioner. The abolition of the spiritual courts, and the exclusion of the 
bishops from the Upper House, were the forerunners of the fall of the 
Episcopal High Church. 

§ SOL Shortly after this, intelligence got abroad that the Protestant 
settlers in Ireland had been set upon and murdered by the Catholic in- 
habitants. This event was laid to the charge of the court, and especially 
of the queen, and made use of as a proof that Papists, bishops, and cour- 
tiers had united in a conspiracy for the destruction of religion and liber- 
ty. From this point, the struggle assumed more and more of a religious 
character ; and as the parliament now overstepped the limits of a mo- 
narchical constitution in their demands, inasmuch as they interfered with 
the prerogatives of government, and required that the appointment of 
the higher officers of state, and of the commanders of the army, together 
with the management of the land and sea forces, should be dependent 
upon their approval, the two parties became more decidedly adverse. 
The people called the adherents of the king, who were mostly noblemen 
and officers, "Cavaliers;" they distinguished their opponents, however, 
by the nickname of Roundheads, from the cut of their hair. The at- 
tempt of the king to arrest five of the most violent leaders of the oppo- 
sition during a debate failed. They fled, but were brought back the next 
day to the parliament-house in triumph by the people. Enraged at this, 
Civil War Charles retired to York and declared war. The queen fled 
A. D. 1642 - to Holland to claim foreign assistance ; but as the whole 
1646. military force of the Continent was engaged in the Thirty 

Years' War, no help could be obtained. The war commenced with une- 
qual means for the contest. For whilst the king was unprovided with 
money, and his army suffered from every kind of want, the parliament 
was in possession not only of all the public revenue, but was amply sup- 



THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 273 

ported by private contributions. At the first summons, families brouglit 
their plate, women their ornaments ; and every tax and impost, that had 
been obstinately contested Avith the king, were cheerfully surrendered to 
the parliament. Charles's small but practised army was, nevertheless, 
at first successful against the parliamentary forces, that were led into the 
field by the earl of Essex. In two encounters, the royal cavalry, which 
was commanded by Charles's nephew, Rupert of the Palatinate, gained 
the advantage. In the commencement ■ of the second year, the parlia- 
ment also experienced losses, among which, the death of the upright 
and gallant Hampden was the most severely felt. But when Oliver 
Cromwell, a zealous Puritan, formed a resolute band of cavalry from 
amongst his devout friends, which, in the cause of God, rushed blindly 

^ , into the fight, matters assumed a difi'erent aspect. In the 

Julys, 1644. , , ^ ,° -,^ -r, , ,. . . , 

battle or Marston Moor, Kupert, by his mipetuosity, lost the 

victory to Cromwell's gloomy squadrons. From this time, the name of 
Cromwell stood uppermost in the army, and the Puritans took advantage 
of the favorable opportunity to banish the Book of Common Prayer 
fro:n Divine worship, and to thrust aside Episcopacy by the Calvinistic 
discipline and the synodial form of Church government. Images, orna- 
ments, organs, and so forth, disappeared from the churches, painted Avin- 
dows were broken, monuments destroyed, and festivals forbidden. 

§ 392. But divisions soon arose in the camp of the conquerors. The 
Independents, the boldest and most energetic of the Puritans, were dis- 
contented with the synodial constitution of the Presbyterians; they 
demanded the entire independence, in religious matters, of every indivi- 
dual congregation, and refused to recognize the decisions of the synods as 
laws universally valid. Violent contests took place between the moderate 
Puritans (Presbyterians), and the Radicals (Independents). The latter 
Febraaiy, passed the Self-denying Ordinance through the parliament, 
1645. in virtue of which, no member of either house could fill any 

place of command or ofiicial situation. Essex was, by this means, com- 
pelled to lay down his military office, and Fairfax, a talented officer, 
entirely under the influence of Cromwell, was placed at the head of the 
army. Cromwell, the head of the Independents, had been one of the 
most zealous advocates of the Self-denying Ordinance. He repaired to 
the army to resign his command into the hands of Fairfax ; but the latter 
at once gave the parliament to understand that Cromwell was indispensa- 
ble — it was only he who could lead the cavaliy ; for where he fought, 
in the name of God, along with his pious squadron, there the victory Avas 
sure to be. Parliament consented, and the civil war burst forth afresh 
.. -.^.r '"'itb redoubled violence. But the battle of Naseby destroyed 

June 14, 1645. , , , ^ ^ J J 

the last hopes of Charles : he retreated with the remains of 
his army to Oxford. When Cromwell and Fairfax prepared to besiege 
him there, he embraced a desperate resolution ; disguised as a servant, 



274 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

be escaped with two attendants to the Scottish camp on the northern 
frontier, in the hope of- finding truth and attachment among his own 
countrymen. But all sympathy for fallen greatness was extinguished in 
the bosom of the Scots, who were guided entirely by their austere clergy. 
They watched him narrowly, and compelled him to attend the lengthened 
discourses of their ministers, whose usual text was the misdeeds of him- 
self and his ancestors ; and when they found that it was impossible to 
prevail upon him to accept the Presbytei'ian faith, or to subscribe the 
Covenant, they sold their king for a small price. For the moderate sum 

of £400,000, Charles was dehvered up to the commissioners 
' ' ' ' ' of pai'liament, Avho confined him in a strong castle. 

§ 393. In the mean time, the division between the Presbyterians, who 
were the superior party in the parliament, and the Independents, who 
prevailed in the army, became every day greater. Cromwell M-as on the 
side of the latter; but he knew well how to conceal the falsehood of his 
heart by an outward appearance of sanctimony.* Whilst he was playing 
the part of a mediator, the captive Charles was carried ofi* by a zealous 
tailor, with a troop of horse, and delivered up into the power of the army. 

Upon this, Cromwell marched upon the capital for the pur- 
^"^ ' '' pose of giving the Independents the supei-iority in parliament 
November, also. In the meanwhile, the king escaped to the Isle of 
1648. AVight ; and both Presbyterians and Independents sought, 

for some time, to gain him over to their own side, and to make their 
peace with him in return for certain concessions. But Charles, who 
relied upon foreign assistance, conducted himself in a deceitful and am- 
biguous manner, and thus deprived himself of the last chance of a peace- 
ful release. Cromwell now resolved upon his destruction. The army, 
acting under his secret directions, made itself master of the king's person, 
and conducted him to a solitary castle on the sea-coast. Colonel Pride 
then surrounded the parliament-house with his troops, and commanded 
December, eighty-one of the Presbyterian members to be excluded by 
1645. force. After this proceeding, which was known by the name 

of " Pride's Purge," Cromwell took possession of the royal apartments in 
Whitehall, — for he was now lord and ruler, and the so-called Hump 
Parliament, which consisted of Independents, was a mere passive tool in 
his hand. It was determined to accuse the king of treason before an 
extraordinary court, for having made war against the parliament. 
" Charles Stuart " was four times put upon his trial, and condemned to 
death as a traitor, murderer, and enemy of his country. He was allowed 
three days to prepare himself, and to take leave of his children. He 

* The character given by Weber in the test to CromAvell cannot be regarded as an 
impartial one. Cromwell's behavior was certainly not always distinguished by perfect 
candor, but his worst enemies will scarcely deny that his religious professions were, in a 
great measure, sincere. — Translalm: 



THE REVOLUTION IN" ENGLAND. 275 

was then led fortli upon a scaffold constructed in front of Whitehall, and 
January 30, covered with black, where the sentence was carried into exe- 
1649. cution by two masked executioners. An innumerable multi- 

tude gazed in silence upon the frightful scene. It was only when the 
executioner seized the blood-dropping head by the hair, and exclaimed, 
" This is the head of a traitor ! " that the assembled people relieved their 
opprc^sed bosoms by a hollow groan. 

h. OLIVER CROMWELL (a. d. 1649-1658). 

§ 394. The intelligence of the king's death excited a fearful sensation 
in Ireland and Scotland. The Prince of "Wales, who was living in 
Holland, was recalled to Scotland and acknowledged as 
Charles II., but was obliged, beforehand, to sign the Cove- 
nant and enter the Presbyterian Church. Ireland also acknowledged 
the new king, and flew to arms. Upon this, Cromwell, after arranging a 
republican government in England, in which Milton, the blind composer 
of " Paradise Lost," occupied a post, marched against the disobedient 
island. His path to victory laid over blood and corpses ; and when he 
himself left the country to carry the sword into Scotland, other republi- 
can generals pursued the same course. In three years, the threatening 
rebellion was quelled ; but Ireland became a depopulated country of 
lawless beggars, where the avenger of blood established his fearful dwell- 
ing. The arms of the I'epublic were triumphant in Scotland also. The 
Scottish army had occupied a strong position, which Cromwell could not 
reach. Hunger and sickness soon diminished the number of his troops, 
so that he was already meditating a retreat. At this juncture, the 
preachers who accompanied the Scottish army, and who were annoyed 
by the cheerful military life and the hilarity of the king and his asso- 
ciates, advised the commanders to make an attack. When Cromwell 
beheld the movement in the Presbyterian army, he exclaimed, " They 
are coming down, the Lord has delivered them into our hands ! " The 
battle of Dunbar, fought upon Cromwell's birthday, Septem- 
ber 3rd, terminated in the defeat of the Scots. Cromwell 
took Edinburgh, and penetrated into the heart of the country. The Lord 
of Hosts, who was invoked both by Presbyterians and Independents with 
fasting and prayer and hypocritical lip-service, was with the bold and 
strong. Charles suddenly hazarded a daring undertaking. He marched 
with his troops across the English border, and called upon the adherents 
of royalty for support. Few joined him, and thus it happened tliat the 
September 3, royal army suffered a complete overthrow at Worcester, 
1051. exactly a twelvemonth ^fter the battle of Dunbar. This 

battle made Charles a houseless fugitive, for whose capture the parlia- 
ment offered a large reward. After a thousand dangers and adventures, 
he escaped in disguise to France. Scotland was compelled to submit to 



276 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

the republican government by General Monk. The free state of Eng- 
land was also involved in a war with Holland. During this, the republi- 
cans showed that they were not only victorious on land, but powerful at 
sea. Greatly as the maritime heroes of Holland, Tromp and Ruyter, 
distinguished themselves by their courage and ability, Admiral Blake, a 
man of the old republican stamp, and of rude virtues, and General Monk, 
who was equally experienced in land and naval warfare, succeeded at 
length in carrying off the victory. The Dutch were obliged to consent 
to a disgraceful peace, whilst the Navigation Act, which was proclaimed 
October, in England during the war, and which prohibited foreigners 

1051- from bringing any thing but their own productions to Eng- 

land in their own ships, gave a fresh impulse to commerce. 

§ 395. During these proceedings, Cromwell had fallen out with the 
Lower House, and for this reason he resolved upon dissolving the Long 
(Rump) parliament. After surrounding the house with troops, he entered 
the apartment in his dark puritanical dress, delivered a dis- 
course which was filled with invectives, and then, with the 
help of the soldiers who had entered, drove forth those who were present, 
exclaiming to one, " You are a drunkard;" to another, " You are an 
adulterer ; " to a third, " You are a blasphemer of God ! " A state coun- 
cil, under the presidentship of Cromwell, then undertook the formation 
of a new parliament. For this purpose, lists of all the God-fearing peo- 
ple were made out in every quarter, and from these " saints " the repre- 
sentatives of the kingdom were chosen. This assembly (named in 
mockery, Barebones' parliament, fi'om the leather-seller, Praise-God 
Barebones), gave evidence of its disposition and religious views by the 
Biblical names of the greater number of its members (Habakkuk, 
Ezekiel, Stand-fast-in-the-Faith, &c.). But Cromwell was not able to 
manage these strange men so easily as he had hoped ; and as they wished 
to introduce several vigorous measures, which Avould have produced great 
changes, he took advantage of the openly-displayed discontent to effect a 
December, violent dissolution by means of his soldiers. After this, a 
1653. new constitution, projected by General Lambert, came into 

existence, in which a parliament of 400 members composed the legisla- 
tive body, and Cromwell, as Lord Protector, possessed the executive 
power and the command of the land and sea forces. As Protector, 
Cromwell governed energetically and gloriously. His talents for govern- 
ment and his strength of will procured him respect and authority abroad, 
and his respectable household, and his frugal and citizen-like mode of 
life, awakened esteem and confidence at home. But honorably as he 
filled the lofty situation in whicli* fate had placed him, he nevertheless 
found many enviers and opponents, both among the republicans and 
royalists, who embittered the evening of his life, and never suffered him 
to attain to a quiet possession of the government. Rendered gloomy by 



THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 277 

suspicion, and in constant fear of assassination, Cromwell died on his 
September 3, birthday, a day that he had always regarded as particularly 
1658. fortunate. 

§ 396. Cromwell's weak son, Richard, inherited the dignity of Lord Pro- 
tector, which, however, he did not know how to^aintain." Three powers 
were soon arrayed in hostile opposition, the protector, the parliament, 
and the army, commanded by Monk, Lambert, and others. The military 
power was victorious ; the parliament was dissolved, and the old Rump 
parliament again summoned ; Richard Cromwell, who was neither a 
soldier nor a preacher, was obliged to abdicate, and to seek for 
April, 1659. gj^f^j.y jj-j jj foi-eign land. But the Rump parliament was 
also obliged to yield in a short time to the power of the army ; upon 
which the direction of affairs was undertaken by a committee of safety, 
under the presidentship of Lambert. During all these constitutional 
struggles, the opinion gradually gained ground that nothing but the return 
of the royal family, and the reestablishment of monarchy, could effect the 
permanent reestablishment of order. For this purpose, General Monk 
entered into an alliance with Charles Stuart, Avho was living in the 
Netherlands, but concealed his plans and opinions most carefully. He 
obtained the arrest of Lambert, the dissolution of the committee of safety, 
and the assembly of a new parliament. With this assembly, which con- 
sisted for the most part of royalists. Monk hastened to effect the restora- 
tion of the Stuarts. An amnesty, and liberty of conscience, were all that 
Charles had to promise before his solemn entrance into Lon- 
' don, where he was received by an exulting people. But 
even these conditions were not observed. Sentence of death was pro- 
nounced upon all those who had sat in judgment upon Chai'les L, and ten 
of them were actually executed as regicides. The triumph of the royalists 
at the destruction of their enemies was much diminished by the resolu- 
tion displayed by the Puritans in their last moments. Cromwell's body 
was torn from the grave and suspended on the gallows. The Episcopal 
Church was restored, and the Presbyterian clergy again deprived of 
their places. 

C. THE LAST TWO STUARTS (CHARLES II. 1660-1685, AND 

JAMES II. 1685-1688.) 

§ 397. The government of the fickle, characterless, and voluptuous 
Charles was fatal to England. Neither the fate of his father, nor the 
melancholy passages in his own life, served him either for instruction or 
warning. Severely as the land was visited by the plague, and by a 
frightful conflagration that destroyed two thirds of London, no interrup- 
tion was given to the splendid and joyous life that was led by the royal 
court; and when extravagant expenditure had produced debts and want 
of money, and the parliament was not so free in its grants as tlie king 

24 



278 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

desired, Charles sold the honor and interests of his country to the French 
king, Louis XIV. At that time especially, it was looked upon as a mark 
of refinement in France if a man left the Protestant Church for the 
Catholic. This way of thinking found some imitation in England. The 
duke of York, the brother of the king, openly embraced Catholicism, and 
Charles was a Catholic in heart, although he outwardly conformed to the 
English Church, and only betrayed his real convictions when on his 
death-bed, by receiving the Catholic sacraments. The more, however, 
the Stuarts favored Catholicism, the more sturdily did the people adhere 
to the faith of their fathers. The fire of London was attributed by them 
to the Papists, and this belief was perpetuated by a monument ; and that 
the public offices should not be made use of as rewards for these changes of 
religion, the parliament, after a long contest, carried the Test Act, which 
enacted that none but members of the English Church, and confessors of 
the Protestant doctrine, should be capable of admission into parliament, 
or of holding offices or military posts. As long as Clarendon, the histo- 
rian of the English " Rebellion," remained at the head of the ministry, 
the king was in some degree restrained within the bounds of moderation 
and legality ; but when the former fell into disgrace, and was compelled 
to end his days as an outlaw in a foreign country, Charles allowed him- 
self to commit acts of all kinds of violence, tyranny, and lawlessness. 
A ministry that was formed of talented but unprincipled statesmen, and 
distinguished by the people as the " Cabal " ministry from the initials of 
its members, now conducted the government according to the wishes of 
the king, without regard to the privileges and honor of the people. Cor- 
ruption and venality were no longer regarded as disgraceful among the 
higher classes, since the king himself drew a yearly stipend from Louis 
XIV. for supporting the French in their war against the Dutch. A new 
contest at this time sprang up between the king and the parliament. 
For, the more openly the former strove for absolute power, the more did 
the latter endeavor to protect the privileges of the people and the religion 
of the country. The parliament, anxious lest the English Church should 
be exposed to danger under a Catholic king, demanded the exclusion of 
the duke of York from the throne ; and Charles found himself so far 
obliged to yield, that he sent his brother out of the country for some time, 
and formed a new ministry, in which the ingenious earl of Shaftesbury, 
who had gone over from the king's council to the popular party, was the 
president. It was under his administration that the Habeas 
Corpus Act, that sacred law for the freedom of person, came 
into existence. According to this act, no one could be impx'isoned, with- 
out a written order of the court stating the grounds of the imprisonment ; 
and within three days, the prisoner was to be brought before the ordi- 
nary judges, and cause was to be shown why he should not be released. 
In the midst of these parliamentary struggles, two parties sprang up, the 



THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 279 

Whigs and the Tories, that exist to the present day. The Whigs re- 
garded the constitution of the state as a mutual compact between the king 
and the nation, and attributed to the latter the right of active resistance 
in case of any infringement of the compact ; the Tories, on the other 
hand, rejected the principle that the royal power proceeded from the 
people, and demanded passive obedience from the subject. The Tories 
gained the upper hand during the latter years of Charles II.'s reign, in- 
asmuch as the court took advantage of a conspiracy contrived by some 
worthless men against the lives of the king and his brother, to ruin the 
heads of the Whig party. Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney, two of 
the noblest and most respected of men, died upon the scaifold; Shaftes- 
bury fled to Holland ; the duke of York again regained his rights and 
offices ; and when Charles died a few years afterwards with- 
out legitimate offspring, the Duke ascended the English 
throne, under the title of James II. 

James IL, § 398. A few weeks after James's ascension of the throne, 

A. D. 1685- Monmouth, a natural son of Charles II., attempted, by the 
aid of the Whigs, to deprive his uncle of the crown. The 
insurrection failed of success. Monmouth died on the scaffold, and the 
frightful cruelty that James displayed against all the supporters and 
abettors of the enterprise destroyed the last sparks of attachment in the 
hearts of the people. The name of the chief judge, Jeffreys, who pass- 
ed through the counties with the axe of justice and a crew of execu- 
tioners, is written with letters of blood in the annals of English history. 
The victory which he had gained so easily, and the terror of the people, 
induced the king to hope, that by cunning and severity he might gradu- 
ally restore the Catholic religion to its former supremacy in England. 
With this object, he made the detested Jeffreys chancellor, presented 
many offices and military appointments to the Catholics and those who 
had gone over to the Roman Church, and aimed at neutralizing the Test 
Act by the introduction of an edict of toleration. But as the parlia- 
ment, despite the bribery used in the elections, could not be brought to 
accept this edict, James attempted to destroy the Test Act by another 
plan ; he declared that the throne possessed the power of granting a dis- 
pensation from this law; a privilege by which the power and operation of 
all laws would have been paralyzed. The English people looked on qui- 
etly for some time at these proceedings, although with inward repugnance, 
inasmuch as the king being old and having no male descendants, and hi 
two daughters having been brought up in the English Church and mar- 
ried to Protestant princes, the elder, Mary, to William of Orange 
(§ 403), and the younger, Anne, to a Danish prince, they hoped for a 
speedy deliverance. But when the intelligence of the birth of a prince 
of Wales put an end to all hope of a release from the yoke of poj)ery, 
they began to entertain the purpose of freeing themselves by their own 



s 



280 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

efforts, with tbe assistance of William of Orange. The genuineness of 
the young prince was called in question; crowds of discontented Britons 
streamed towards the Hague ; the Whigs united themselves with William 
of Orange, and promised him the support of the Protestant part of the 
nation. James did not perceive the storm that was gathering around his 
head, until William had landed with a Dutch force on the shores of Eng- 
land, with the avowed purpose of defending the Protestant religion and 
the liberties of the country. It was in vain that the king now turned 
himself to the army and the people, and promised the removal of every 
measure repugnant to the Constitution ; the ground on which he stood 
had been rendered insecure by the treachery, hypocrisy, and perjuiy 
with which the Stuarts had rendered the nation familiar. When a part 
of the army went over to William, and the general voice declared itself 
against the king, James sent his wife and son to France, threw the great 
seal into the Thames, and then fled himself in despair from the land of 
December ^"s fathers, of whose fair crown he had deprived himself and 
1688. his Catholic offspring. He lived from this time forth at St. 

Germain, a pensioner of Louis XIV. 

§ 399. After the flight of James, the representatives of the English 
people declared the throne forsaken, and agreed that the Catholic line of 
the house of Stuart should be excluded from the government, and that 
this should be placed in the hands of the royal pair, William and Mary. 
Instructed however by the past, they secured the liberties of the nation 
against any future arbitrary acts by the Bill of Rights, without at the 
same time weakening overmuch the power of the king. The Scots ac- 
knowledged the new government, and regained their Presbyterian 
Church ; but the Catholic Irish, supported by France, and led into the 
field by James II. himself, were first compelled to submis- 
"^ ^ ' ' sion by the bloody battle of the Boyne, and again curtailed 
of their privileges and property. From this time, England, by her naval 
power, her trade, industry, and prosperity, took the lead of all other na- 
i''Oi tions. When a premature death carried the sickly William 

, childless to the grave, he was succeeded by Anne, the 

Anne, a. d. o ■> j^ ' 

1701 - 1714. younger daughter of James II., during vv'hose reign the union 
A. D. 1707. between Scotland and England was completed, so that, from 
this time, the Scottish representatives gave their voices in the English 
parliament. Anne also survived the whole of her children, so that the 
English crown devolved upon the Elector, George of Hanover, the 
grandson of Elizabeth, Palgravine and Queen of Bohemia. Two at- 
tempts of the Stuarts, [a. d. 1715 and 1745], to expel the house of 
Hanover by violence, and' to repossess themselves of the English crown, 
terminated unsuccessfully. 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 281 



O. THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 



a. RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. 



Louis XIII. § ^^^' The first part of the reign of the weak Louis XIII., 

A. D. 1610- who only numbered nine years at the time of his father's 
1^*^- murder (§ 365), was full of mischief for France. During 

the time the queen-mother, Mary of Medicis, conducted the government, 
Italian favorites exerted a great influence upon aifairs, enriched them- 
selves at the expense of the French, and irritated the pride of the na- 
tion by their insolence. Enraged at this, the nobility took up arms, and 
filled the country with rebellion and the tumult of war. When at length. 
Louis XIII. himself, upon coming of age, assumed the government^ he 
indeed consented that the foreign favorites should be removed by murder 
and execution, and banished his mother from the court ; but the people 
gained little by it. The new favorites in whom the king, who possessed 
no self-reliance, reposed his confidence, wei'e not distinguished from the 
former either by virtue or talents ; for this reason, both the nobles of the 
kingdom and the Huguenots, who felt themselves injured in their rights, 
again rose against the government, and threw the land into fresh confu- 
sion. This melancholy condition of affairs was only put an end to when 
Cardinal. Richelieu was admitted into the state council, and 
introduced a complete change of system. This great states- 
man maintained an almost absolute sway in the court and in the kingdom 
for nearly eighteen years, though the king never loved him, the queen 
and the nobility were constantly attempting his overthrow, and a succes- 
sion of cabals and conspiracies were plotted against him. The greatness 
of bis mind triumphed over all obstacles. Richelieu's efforts were di- 
rected towards the extension and rounding of the French territory with- 
out, and the increasing and strengthening of the royal power within. In 
furtherance of the former of these objects, he sought to weaken the house 
of Hapsburg, and for this purpose entered into alliances with the enemies 
of the emperor not only in Germany, in the time of the Thirty Years' 
War, but in Italy and other places ; and, to attain his aims in regard to 
the latter project, he neglected to call together the estates of the king- 
dom, broke the power of the nobility and of the independent oflicials 
and judges in the parliament, and attacked the Huguenots, who had form- 
ed an almost independent alliance in the south and west of France, with 
their own fortresses, an effective militia, and great privileges. After 
conquering the most important of the Huguenot towns (Nismes, Mon- 
tauban, Montpellier), and destroying their fortifications, in three wars, 
and when he had at length taken Rochelle, the bulwark of the Calvin- 
ists, after a siege of fourteen months, he proceeded to deprive the Pro- 
testants of their political privileges and of their independent position, 

24* 



282 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

but granted tlieni, by the Edict of Nisme?, liberty of conscience and 
equal rights with Catholic subjects. The turbulent nobles had been de- 
prived of their greatest support by the disarming of the Huguenots, and 
the Avar could now be prosecuted against them Avith success. The most 
daring were got rid of by banishment and the executioner. Even the 
queen-mother and her second son, the duke of Orleans, who had at- 
tempted to procure the fall of Richelieu, were compelled to leave the 
country, and the confidential friend of the latter, Henry, duke of Mont- 
morency, a scion of one of the most renowned families of France, died 
at Toulouse by the hand of the executioner. A similar fate 
awaited the count of Cinq-Mars and his friend, De Thou, a 
few years later, when, in conjunction Avith the (pieen and some of the 
nobles, they formed a conspiracy against the mighty cardinal. The par- 
liament, the upper tax-offices and courts of justice, Avhich, like the king, 
claimed an independent authority on account of their offices being he- 
reditary, Avere w-eakened by the establishment of extraordinary courts 
and higher officers, who Avere dependent upon the minister. 

§ 401. In the year 1642, died Richelieu, hated and feared by the no- 
bility and the people, but admired by contemporaries and posterity ; 
Louis XIIL, a prince Avithout either great virtues or great vices, and de- 
pendent upon every one Avho could either acquire his favor or render 
himself formidable to him, soon folloAved him. His AvidoAV, Anne of 
Austria, the proud and ambitious sister of the king of Spain, undertook 
Louis XIV. ^^^^ government during the minority of his son. But as she 
A. n. 1C43- reposed the Avhole of her confidence on the Italian, JMazarin, 
1715. tiie inheritor of the office and the principles of Richelieu, she 

met with vehement opposers among the nobility and in the parliament, Avho 
attempted to regain their former power and position. The people, in the 
hope of being relieved of some of their heavy taxes, and guided by the 
clever and dexterous Cardinal Retz, embraced their cause, Avith the in- 
tent of compelling the court to remove Mazarin, and to adopt a different 
^_ p, plan of government. This gave occasion to a furious civil 

1648 - 1653. Avar, Avhich is known in history as " the War of the Fronde." 
Mazarin Avas obliged to leave the country for a short time, but so immo- 
vable Avere the favor and confidence of the queen, that he governed 
France from Cologne as he had formerly done in Paris. But his ban- 
ishment did not last long. When Louis XIV. had attained the years of 
kingly majority, and Turenne, the commander of the royal troops, had 
conquered his rival, the great Conde, the general of the insurgents, in 
the suburb of St. Antoine, Mazarin returned in triumph. 

A. D. 1653. Tx- , • T^ ■ -111. 

His solemn entry into Tans was a sign that absolute power 
had gainedthevictory,andthat henceforth the Avillof the monarch Avas to 
be law. Mazarin enjoyed for six years longer the greatest respect in 
France and Europe ; Cardinal Retz, the ingenious composer of the Me- 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 283 

moirs of this war, was obliged to leave his country, after he had previously 
expiated his turbulent conduct in the prison of Vincennes ; Conde, poor 
and unhappy, wandered among the Spaniards, till the grace of his master 
allowed him to return and take possession of his estates ; Mazarin's 
nieces, Italian females without name or position, were endowed with the 
wealth of France, and sought for as brides by the greatest nobles ; and 
the members of parliament adapted themselves without opposition to the 
directions the}' received from above, after Louis had appeared before 
them in his boots and riding whip, and demanded their obedience with 
threats. Louis now gave effect to his principle, "I am the state" {Vetat, 
A D 1659 '^'^^^ moi). The peace of the Pyrenees with Spain was the 
last work of Mazarin, He died shortly after, leaving enor- 
March 9, mous wealth behind him. His death took place at the mo- 
^^^^' ment when Louis began to grow weary of him, and was 

longing to seize the reins of government in his own powerful grasp. 

b. GOVERNMENT AND CONQUESTS OF LOUIS XIV. 

§ 402. After the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV., in whom kingly abso- 
lutism attained its highest point, appointed no prime minister, but sur- 
rounded himself with men who merely executed his will, and whose 
liighest aim was to increase and spread abroad the renown, glory, and 
honor of the king. In the choice of these men, Louis displayed judg- 
ment and the talents of a ruler. His ministers, especially Colbert, the 
great promoter of French industry, manufactures, and trades, as well as 
his generals, Turenne, Conde, Luxemburg, and the engineer, Vauban, as 
mucli surpassed, in talent, acquirements, and dexterity, the statesmen and 
soldiers of all other countries, as Louis XIV. himself was preeminent 
among the princes of his age, in the greatness of his power, in command- 
ing presence, and kingly dignity. He rendered the age of Louis XIV. 
the most illusti-ious in the French annals, and caused the Court of Ver- 
sailles (the seat of the royal residence) to be everywhere praised and 
admired as the model of taste, of refinement, and of a distinguished 
mode of living. But as he sought nothing but the gratification of his own 
selfishness, of his own love of pleasure, of his pride, and of his desire for 
renown and splendor, his reign became the grave of freedom, of morals, 
of firmness of character, and of manly sentiments. Court favor was the 
end of every effort, and flattery the surest road to arrive at it ; virtue 
■ and merit met with little acknowledgment. 

§ 403. Louis XIV. wished to enlarge his empire, and to render his 
name illustrious by military renown. He took advantage, therefore, of 
the death of the Spanish king, Philip IV., to make pretensions to his 
Spanish War, inheritance as the husband of Philip's daughter, and to march 
A. n. an army into the Spanish Netherlands. By the triple alliance 

1667 - 1668. Qf England, Holland, and Sweden, he was indeed compelled, 



284 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

by the peace of Aix, to surrender, after a short campaign, the greater 
part of his conquests; but many of the frontier towns of 

May, 1GG8. ,^, -, , ^ , 

1 landers remained with l^ ranee, and were converted by Vau- 
ban into impregnable fortresses. As Holland had been the chief instru- 
ment in checking the victorious course of the haughty king, so she did not 
fail to experience the vengeance of the French potentate. He won Swe- 
den to his side, purchased the favor of the English king by annuities and 
mistresses (§ 397), and concluded an alliance with the Elector of Cologrie 
and the bishop of Munster. Thus prepared and protected on every side, 
Dutch War Louis began a second war, which at first was directed against 
A. D. Holland alone, but in which almost all the European states 

Avere involved during the seven years of its continuance. 
After the celebrated passage of the Rhine at Tolhuis, the French army pur- 
sued its rapid course of victories into the territories of the States General. 
Holland was now in extremities. The republicans, who had hitherto con- 
ducted the affairs of the State with great credit, had been more solicitous 
about improving the navy than upon maintaining or increasing the land 
forces ; how could they resist the stately armies of France, conducted, as 
they were, by the most celebrated generals ? Liege, Utrecht, and Upper 
Issel, fell into the hands of the enemy ; French dragoons already made 
incursions into the province of Holland, and approached to within two 
miles of the capital ; — the teri'ified republicans implored peace, but were 
not listened to. But whilst the French army was wasting time in the 
siege of the Dutch fortresses, the republicans, to whom the whole of 
the mischief was ascribed, were overthrown by the Orange party, their 
chiefs, John and Cornelius de Witt, murdered in the streets of the capi- 
tal, and the government then placed in the hands of the shrewd and war- 
like stadtholder, William III. of Orange. This celebrated general aroused 
the courage and patriotic enthusiasm of the Hollanders ; they cut through 
their dykes, and rendered the inundated country inapproachable by the 
French ; the walls of Groningen defied all the efforts of the enemy, and 
the marshal of Luxemburg's daring march against Amsterdam, over the 
frozen w^aters, w^as frustrated by a sudden thaw. These and other cir- 
cumstances saved Holland. For as the great Elector of Brandenburg, 
Frederick William, now came to the assistance of the Dutch, and also 
induced the emperor Leopold to take an interest in the war, the French 

were obliged to divide their power, and to send their chief 

A. D. 1C74. . . 

force to the Eliine. Spain, also, and the German empire, 
soon entered into the war against France. 

§ 404. The military power of France increased with the number of 
her enemies. Turenne crossed the Rhine, after having barbarously 
ravaged the lands of the Palatinate, and pressed forwards, burning and 
ravaging, into Franconia. The German princes were divided ; the im- 
perial minister of war was in the pay of Louis, and betrayed the mili- 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 285 

tarj plans to the enemy ; the Austrian generals were either incompetent, 
or, like Montecuculi, engaged in Hungary. The triumph of France 
would have been complete, had not the great Elector saved the military 
reputation of Germany. Louis XIV., for the purpose of compelling the 
latter to separate himself from the army of the Rhine, had induced his 
allies, the Swedes, to attack the march of Brandenburg. But the ener- 
getic Frederick William appeared in his own territories before the 
enemy entertained the slightest suspicion of his approach, and gave the 
surprised Swedes a complete overthrow in the battle of 
• unc -., / . pgi^j.jjjgji;,^^ -pj^jg battle was the foundation of Prussia's 

greatness. A month later, Turenne, the greatest general of his age, was 
killed by a cannon-ball, near Sasbach, and the enemy compelled to 
retreat across the Rhine. But the war nevertheless continued for three 
years longer, and was particularly destructive to the lands on the Mosel 
and the Saar, where the French committed frightful ravages. It was 
not until the English parliament demanded, with menaces, that the 
government should dissolve the alliance with France and support the 
Dutch, that Louis resolved to put an end to the war. By 
the peace of Nimeguen, the Dutch, who in the mean time 
had made the office of stadtholder hereditary in the male line of the gal- 
lant William of Orange, received back the whole of their lost towns and 
territories. On the other hand, the Spaniards were obliged to relinquish 
Franche-Comte, and the whole of the fortified places in the line of Va- 
lenciennes and Maubeuge, to France, and the German empire lost not 
only the town.of Freibui*g in the Breisgau, but was obliged to submit to 
the greatest humiliations. The dukedom of Lorraine, which belonged to 
Germany, and of which the French had taken possession at the com- 
mencement of the war, was given back to the duke, who was engaged in 
the Austrian service, under such degrading conditions, that the latter 
preferred to allow it to remain still in the hands of the enemy ; and the 
great Elector saw himself compelled to give up to the Swedes the lands 
and towns he had conquered with so much difficulty in Pomerania. 

§ 405. The timorous acquiescence of the German princes inflamed the 
insolence and ambition of Louis XIV. lie asserted that a number of 
districts and portions of territory, which, at an earlier period, had belonged 
to the towns and provinces which had fallen to France in the Peaces of 
Westphalia and Nimeguen, were included in the cession. To arrange 
this matter, he established the so-called chambers of reunion in Metz and 
Breisach, and, supported by their decisions, took possession of a number 
of cities, towns, boroughs, villages, mills, nay, even whole provinces, on 
the left bank of the Rhine. Success only increased the audacity of the 
French king, so that, at length, in the midst of peace, he wrested the 
September, fi'^e town of Strasburg from the German empire. The trai- 
1681. torous bishop, Francis Egon, of Furstenburg, assisted in the 



286 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

surprise and occupation of the place. The once free burghers were com- 
pelled, after being disarmed, to take the oath of subjection to the foreign 
potentate upon their knees. The ornaments of German architecture 
were restored to the Catholic worship, and the arsenal was emptied. In- 
stead of chastising this insolence with their united forces, Austria, Spain, 
August 15 «ind the German empire concluded a truce for twenty years 
1684. -with the tyrannical king, at Regensburg, by which all the 

annexed and plundered provinces were given up to Louis, with the 
single condition, that he should be satisfied with what he had got, and 
should put an end to his annexations. 

Austria's distress and triumph. 

§ 40G. During this time, the emperor Leopold was engaged in the 
eastern portion of his dominions. Li Hungary, the oppression exercised 
by the government upon the Protestants, the burdensome quartering of 
troops, and some acts of violence against certain magnates, had produced 
a formidable rebellion at the moment when the Turks were renewing 
their former plans of conquest, and some active chief viziers were awak- 
ning the warlike spirit of the janisaries. The Austrian government 
hoped to suppress the insurrection by severity. It condemned the leaders 
to death upon the scaffold, and outraged the chartered rights of the 
nation. But these acts of violence excited the love of free- 
dom and the military spirit of the Hungarians. Emmerick 
Tokeli, an active noble, Avhose property had been confiscated, unfurled 
the banner of rebellion. In a short time, he had a consider- 
able army at his command, with which he drove the Aus- 
trian forces out of Hungary. Louis XIV. afforded him assistance, and 
the Porte, which recognized him as tributary king of Hun- 
gary, despatched a powerful army for his defence. The 
Turks marched, plundering and devastating, to the walls of Vienna. The 
court fled to Lintz, and the capital of Austria seemed lost. But the 
courage of the citizens and of their leader, Rudiger von Staremberg, to- 
gether with the Ottoman's want of skill in conducting sieges, preserved 
Vienna for sixty days, in spite of all attacks, till at length the imperial 
ai'my, commanded by Charles of Loi'raine, and in conjunction with a 
Polish force under the hei'oic king, John Sobieski, came to the help of 
September, the hardly-pressed town. A bloody engagement under the 
1683. walls of Vienna terminated to the disadvantage of the Turks. 

They made a hasty retreat, and left an enormous booty in the hands of 
the victors. From this time, the fortune of the war remained with the 
Austrians. Hungary Avas conquered, Tokeli compelled to fly, and Buda, 
which had been in possession of the Turks for 146 years, was wrested 
from their hands. After the criminal court of Eperies had deprived 
the Hungarian nobility of their most enterprising leaders, and spread ter- 



AGE OP LOUIS XIV. 287 

vor through the whole nation, the emperor Leopold was enabled, at the 
Diet at Presburg, to abolish elective monarchy, and to banish certain 
privileges from the constitution that interfered with the roval powei*, 
without any opposition. In this way, Hungary became the inheritance 
of the house of Plapsburg. The Turks made great efforts to regain that 
which had been lost, and streams of Turkish and Christian blood were 
shed around the walls of Belgrade ; but those great heroes, Charles of 
Lorraine, prince Eugene, and Louis of Baden, held victory 
firmly to the Austrian banners. By the peace of Carlowitz, 
Transylvania, and the whole of the land between the Danube and the 
Theiss, were ceded to the Austrians. 

d. THE WAR OF ORLEANS. 

§ 407. For the purpose of creating a diversion in favor of the Turks 
against the superior power of Austria, Louis XIV. took advantage of 
affairs relating to the inheritance of the Palatinate and the election of the 
War of archbishop of Cologne, to engage in the third war, called the 

Orleans, A. d. war of Orleans. When the elector Charles died without 
1689-1697. male issue, and the land fell into the collateral Catholic line 
of Pfalz Neuberg, Louis XIV. claimed not only the movable i^roperty, 
but also the immovable estate, as the inheritance of Elizabeth Charlotte, 
the sister of the deceased Elector, and the wife of Louis's brother, the duke 
of Orleans ; and when this claim was not admitted, he marched an army 
upon the Rhine. For the purpose of rendering it impossible for the 
enemy to penetrate into France, Louvois, the hard-hearted minister of 
war, gave command for creating a desert between the two kingdoms by 
devastating the banks of the Rhine. Hereupon, the wild troops fell like 
incendiaries upon the flourishing villages of the Bergstrasse, the rich 
cities on the Rhine, and the blooming districts of the southern Palatinate, 
and reduced them to heaps of ashes. The shattered tower of the castle 
of Heidelberg is yet a silent witness of the barbarity with which Melac 
and other leaders executed the commands of a merciless government. 
Towns and villages, vineyards and orchards, were in flames from Haardt- 
gebirge to Nahe ; in Manheim, the inhabitants themselves were obliged 
to assist in destroying their own buildings and fortifications ; a great part 
of Heidelberg was consumed by fire, after the bridge of the Neckar had 
been blown up ; in Worms, the cathedral with many of the dwelling- 
houses became the prey of the flames ; and in Spire, the French drove 

out the citizens, set fire to the plundered city and the ve- 
June, 16S9. ^ -, \ -,, \ , 

nerable cathedral, and desecrated the bones of the ancient 
emperors. 

The second occasion of the war, in which, beside the German empire 
and the emperor, the Netherlands, Spain, and the dukes of Savoy and 
Piedmont became involved, was the appointment to the spiritual elector- 



288 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

ship in Cologne, where Louis XIV., by Jint of bribery, had secured the 
election of William von Furstenburg, a man in the'interests of France ; 
but both pope and emperor refused confirmation. In this war, also, 
which lasted for eight years, the French army, which was conducted by 
the most distinguished generals, maintained its supremacy over the far 
superior force of the enemy. In Italy, in the Netherlands, in heavily 
afflicted Germany, in the north of Spain, the French had generally the 
advantage ; even at sea they maintained their honor, although 

A. D. 1692. . ' o 

' the battle of La Hogue went against them. It was a cause 
of much surjirise that Louis should consent to the universally desired ter- 
mination of the war, and should show himself far more mo- 
derate in the peace of Ryswick (between Hague and Delft) 
than in that of Nimeguen. The German empire was the only loser, 
inasmuch as it was obliged to leave Strasburg and all the annexed pro- 
vinces to France. Louis's reason for concluding the peace so hastily was, 
that he wished to have his hands free at the approaching vacancy of the 
Spanish crown. 

e. LIFE AT THE COURT. LITERATURE. CHURCH. 

§ 408. It was during the last three decades of the seventeenth century 
that France stood at the culminating point of her power abroad and of 
her prosperity at home, so that the flattering chronicles of those days de- 
scribed the age of Louis XIV. as the golden age of France. Trade and 
industry received a prodigious development by the care of Colbert ; the 
woollen and silk manufactories, the stocking and cloth weaving, which 
flourished in the southern towns, brought prosperity, the maritime force 
increased, colonies were planted, and the productions of France Avere car- 
ried by trading companies to all quarters of the globe. 

The court of France displayed a magnificence that had never before 
been witnessed. The palace of Versailles, and the gardens which were 
adorned with statues, fountains, and alleys of trees, were a model of taste 
for all Europe ; fetes of all kinds, jovial parties, ballets, fireworks, the 
opera and the theatre, in the service of which the first intellects in 
France employed their talents, followed upon each other in attractive 
succession ; poets, artists, men of learning, all were eager to do honor to 
a prince who rewarded with a liberal hand every kind of talent that con- 
duced either to his amusement or to his glory. Sumptuous buildings, 
as the Hospital of Invalides, costly libraries, magnificent productions of 
the press, vast establishments for the natural sciences, academies, and 
similar institutions, exalted the glory and renown of the great Louis. 
The refined air of society, the polished tone, the easy manners of the 
nobility and courtiers, subdued Europe more permanently and exten- 
sively than the weapons of the army. The French fashions, language, 
and litei'ature, bore sway from this time in all circles of the higher classes. 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 289 

The consequences of the establishment of the French Academy by Riche- 
lieu were a development of the language, style, and literaiy composition, 
that was extremely favorable to the diffusion of the literature. The lan- 
guage, so particularly adapted for social intercoui'se, for conversation, and 
for epistolary wi-iting, remained from henceforth the language of diplo- 
macy, of courts, and of the higher classes ; and although the literaiy pro- 
ductions are wanting in strength, elevation, and nature, — the polish of the 
form, and the ease and felicity of the style, gave French taste the supre- 
macy in Europe, and strengthened the French people in the agreeable 
delusion that they were the most civilized of nations. In the time of 
Louis, dramatic poetry reached its highest excellence in Peter Corneille 
(1684), whose " Cid" is regarded as the foundation and commencement 
of classical stage poetry; in J.Racine (1699), who, in his Iphigenia and 
Phaedra ventured to emulate Euripedes, and in the talented writer of 
comedies, Moliere (1673), whose Tartuffe, L'Avare, Le Misanthrope, &:c. 
evince a profound knowledge of human nature in its aberrations. Boi- 
leau (Despreaux) (1711), a dexterous versifier, was admired as the 
French Horace on account of his odes and satires; Lafontaine's (1694) 
fables and stories are still familiar in all families as school and children's 
books, and the adventures of Telemachus by Bishop Fenelon (1715) are 
translated into all European languages, and have an immense circulation. 
At the same time, the eloquence of the pulpit was cultivated by Bossuet 
(1704) and other spiritual orators ; the philosophy of scepticism, by the 
Huguenot, Bayle ; and the literature of polemics by the religious party 
of the Jansenists, in its contests against the Jesuits and their dangerous 
morality. In this latter class, the Provincial Letters of Pascal occupy 
the first rank. 

§ 409. But however flatterers may sing the praises of the age of Louis 
XIV., one spot of shame remains ineradicable — the persecution of the 
Huguenots. The French king believed that the unity of the Church 
was inseparable from a perfect monarchy. For this reason he oppressed 
the Jansenists, a Catholic party, which first contended against the Jesuits, 
and afterwards against the head of the Church himself; and he compelled 
the Calvinists, by the most severe persecutions, either to fly, or to return 
into the bosom of the Catholic Church. Colbert, who esteemed the 
Huguenots as active and industrious citizens, prevented for some time 
these violent measures ; but the suggestions of the royal confessor, La 
Chaise, the zeal for conversion of the affectedly pious Madame Main- 
tenon, who had been first a tutoress of the court, and afterwards Louis's 
trusted wife, and the cruelty of Louvois, the minister of war, at length 
triumphed over the advice of Colbert. A long succession of oppressive 
proceedings against the Huguenots prepared the way for the great stroke. 
The number of their churches was restricted, and their worship confined 
to a few of the principal towns. Louis's paroxysms of repentance and 

25 



290 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

devotion were always the sources of fresh oppressions to the Calvinistic 
heretics, by whose conversion he thought to expiate his own crimes. 
They were gradually excluded from olfice and dignities ; converts were 
favored ; in this way, the ambitious were enticed, the poor were won by 
money, which flowed from the king's conversion chest, and from the libe- 
ral gifts of the pious illustrious ; a wide field was opened to the zeal for 
proselytism by the enactment that the conversion of children under age 
was valid. Families were divided, children were torn from their parents 
and brought up as Catholics. Court and clergy, the heartless and elo- 
quent bishop Bossuet at their head, set all means in motion to establish 
the ecclesiastical unity of France. When all other means of conversion 
failed, came the dragonades. At the command of Louvois, the cavalry 
took possession of the southern provinces, and established their quarters 
in the dwellings of the Huguenots. The prosperity of the industrious 
citizens, whose substance was devoured by the dragoons, soon disap- 
peared. The bad treatment by these booted missionaries, who quitted the 
houses of the apostates to fall in doubled numbers upon those who re- 
mained stedfast, operated more effectually than all the enticements of the 
court or the seductions of the priests. Thousands fled abroad that they 
October might preserve their faith upon a foreign soil. At last came 

1685. the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The religious wor- 

ship of the Calvinists was now forbidden, their churches were torn down, 
their schools closed, their preachers banished from the land ; when the 
emigration increased to a formidable degree, this was forbidden, under 
punishment of the galleys and forfeiture of goods. But despite all threats 
and prohibitions, upwards of 500,000 French Calvinists carried their 
industry, their faith, and their courage to Protestant lands. Switzerland, 
the Palatinate of the Rhine, Brandenburg, Holland, and England, offered 
an asylum to the persecuted. Tlie silk manufacture and stocking-weav- 
ing were carried abroad by th6 fugitive Huguenots. Flatterers extolled 
the king as the exterminator of heresy, but the courage of the peasants 
in Cevenncs, and the number of Huguenots who contented themselves 
with private devotion, show how little religious oppression conduced to 
the desired end. For when the persecution was carried into the distant 
valleys of the Cevennes, where Waldenses and Calvinists lived, according 
to ancient custom, in the simplicity of the faith, the oppressors met with 
an obstinate resistance. Persecution called forth the courage of its vic- 
tims, oppression urged zeal into fanaticism. Led on by a young mecha- 
nic, the Camisardes, clad in a linen frock, rushed '' with naked breast 
against the marshals." A frightful civil war filled the peaceful valleys 
of Cevennes ; fugitive priests, in the gloom of the forest, exhorted the 
evangelical brethren to a desperate defence, till, at length, the persecutors 
grew weary. Nearly two millions of the Huguenots remained without 
rights and without religious worship. 



NORTH AMERICA. 291 

IV. THE COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA. 

[a. d. lGOC-1732.] 

§ 410. North America, with the exception of Mexico, was not colo- 
nized by Europeans so early as the southern part of the Continent. The 
discoveries of Cabot had given England a valid claim to the 
whole coast from Labrador to Florida ; but the country pre- 
sented none of the allurements that had incited and rcAvarded the Spanish 
adventurers. Fertile and well-wooded, indeed, intersected by noble rivers, 
and inclosing safe and capacious harbors and bays, it seemed a promis- 
ing region for permanent settlements and agricultural industry, but 
offered only a faint pi'ospectof wealth to be obtained from gold and silver 
mines, or from plundering the native inhabitants. There was little 
chance of glory or gain in subduing feeble and destitute tribes, who had 
hardly risen above the lowest stage of savage life. Buccaneering Eng- 
lishmen, like Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins, thirsting for adventure 
and gold, contemptuously overlooked the North American Indians, pre- 
ferring to attack and rob the wealthy settlements already formed by the 
Spaniards at the south. A party of French Huguenots attempted to 
colonize Florida ; but the Spaniards, who claimed the country, surprised 
the infant settlement, and massacred nearly all its inhabitants, not sparing 
even the women and children. This slaughter was soon 
avenged by a Frenchman, Dominique de Gourges, who cap- 
tured Fort Carolina, where the victors had established themselves, and 
hanged all his prisoners ; but he made no attempt to form another colony, 
and did not even disturb the little Spanish city of St. Augustine, which 
remained, but did not flourish, as the only permanent settlement of Euro- 
peans on the coast north of the Gulf of Mexico during the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 

The English, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh and his half- 
brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, attempted to create a settlement on 
A. D. the coast of what was subsequently called North Carolina. 

1583-1587. Three parties of colonists were sent thither, but they were 
few in number, and ill provided with necessaries ; one returned, and the 
other two perished, either from starvation or the hostility of the natives. 
Early in the seventeenth century, the French, under De Monts and 
Champlain, explored the country around the Bay of Fundy and that bor- 
dering on the St. Lawrence, laying claim to Acadie (Nova Scotia) and 
Canada, which together were called New France. De Monts founded 
Port Royal (Annapolis), on the eastern shore of the Bay of Fundy, in 
1606; and two years afterwards, Champlain established on the St. Law- 
rence the post of Quebec. In 1609, the Dutch sent out Henry Hudson, 
who explored the American coast for a considerable distance, entered 



292 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

New York harbor, and sailed up the river which now bears his name. 
Stimulated by a feeling of rivalry with the French, the English renewed 
their attempts at colonization on a larger scale. James I. granted the 
whole country, from Cape Fear to Passamaquoddy Bay, to two companies 
of merchants and adventurers. The southern portion, from the thirty- 
fourth to the forty -first degree of latitude was given to the London Com- 
pany ; and the northern part, from the thirty-eighth to the forty-fifth 
degree, was to be colonized by the Plymouth Company. Neither was to 
commence a settlement within one hundred miles of a spot already occu- 
pied by the other. Such associations, looking only to the profits of trade, 
and intended to remain as commercial corporations within the limits of 
England, were but ill fitted for the great enterprise of founding and nour- 
ishiu"; colonies on a distant coast. All their undertakings resulted in dis- 
appointment and loss ; and they were finally dissolved while the settle- 
ments which they had created were still in the weakness of infancy. 
§ 411. Virginia. The first band of colonists sent out by the London 
Company established themselves on a spot which they called 
Jamestown, on the James river, about fifty miles above its 
entrance into Chesapeake Bay. The situation was an unhealthy one, 
and most of the adventurers were poor gentlemen or broken down trades- 
men, unused to toil, and "fitter to breed a riot than to found a colony." 
The direction of affairs had been given to a council, consisting of seven 
persons, nominated by the Company in England. John Smith, a military 
adventurer of great courage, enterprise, and sagacity, was one of them ; 
and the incompetency of his colleagues soon becoming manifest, he gra- 
dually assumed the lead, and several times rescued the feeble settlements 
from the imminent perils of savage warfare and famine.- Half of the 
emigrants perished during the first six months ; and if the colony had not 
been fed by frequent supplies of food and additional settlers from Eng- 
land, the enterprise must soon have been abandoned. In spite of Smith's 
remonstrances, the settlers wasted their time in seeking for gold and sil- 
ver, instead of cultivating the ground ; and they actually sent a vessel to 
England laden with dirt in which glittering specks had been discovered, 
which they mistook for gold. Smith explored the country, and coasted 
the bay in an open boat, entering the principal rivers and inlets, and thus 
obtaining the requisite information for the construction of a chart, which 
Avas transmitted to England and published. Li one of these expeditions, 
he fell into the hands of the savages, and was on the point of being put to 
death, when he was rescued by the chieftain's daughter, Pocahontas, and 
after an imprisonment of a few weeks, was sent back to Jamestown. But 
the colony was soon deprived of his invaluable services ; in 1609, he was 
severely injured by the accidental explosion of his powder bag, and was 
compelled to return to England for surgical aid. After his departure, 
the affairs of the colony again declined, and the settlers more than once 



VIRGINIA. 293 

determined to abandon the undertaking, and return home. But they 
were prevented by the seasonable arrival of ships, bringing fresh sup- 
plies and a reinforcement of men, whose broken fortunes in their native 
land made them eager to brave the perils of a desperate enterprise. Thus 
often rescued from the brink of ruin, the colony struggled on, till its 
members at last became inured to their novel situation, and acquired the 
habits of life which alone could meet its exigencies. Novel recruits were 
sent out from time to time to keep up their numbers. In 1G19. ninety 
young women arrived, of irreproachable character, who were sold at the 
price of their passage, to become Avives to the planters. Many cargoes 
of vagrants, thieves, and jailbirds also came, to serve as indented servants 
for a term of years, and afterwards to become free colonists. Then a 
more lasting impression was made on the future character and fortunes 
of the settlement by the introduction of twenty negro slaves, who were 
brought by a Dutch trading vessel, and readily purchased by the settlers. 
Tobacco had now become the staple product of the colony, and slaves 
were profitably employed in its cultivation. 

§ 412. The London Company obtained a new charter in 1609, which 
gave them the jjower of enacting all necessary laws for the Colony, and 
appointing a governor and other officers to see that the laws were exe- 
cuted. Whatever discontent may have been excited among the emi- 
grants by this measure, which gave the whole control of their affairs to a 
council resident in England, they welcomed the appointment of Lord 
De la War to be their fii-st governor, as the good abilities and amiable 
but resolute character of this nobleman seemed to promise a successful 
administration. Unfortunately he remained in office but a short time, 
owing to the failure of his health ; and his successors. Dale, Gates, and 
Argal, governed with a rigor and severity which occasioned loud com- 
plaints. But they had many dissolute and turbulent subjects to rule ; 
and the order and discipline which they preserved were favorable to the 
prosperity of the settlement. Hitherto the lapd had been held in com- 
mon, and the products of all labor were thrown into a common stock. 
But experience having shown that this policy placed the idle and the 
dissolute on a par with the virtuous and the industrious, besides dis- 
couraging the latter, each settler now received an allotment of land as 
his own, and was allowed to work on his own account. The savages had 
occasionally given much trouble, and in 1622, they were nearly success- 
ful in a plot which they had formed for the entire destruction of the set- 
tlements. In one day, they killed three hundred and forty-seven of the 
whites. A furious war succeeded, in which the Indians, indeed, were 
defeated and driven back with great slaughter, so that they never became 
formidable again. But the colony had received a fearful blow, from 
which it recovered with slowness and difficulty. The number of settle- 
ments was reduced from eighty to eight, and a famine ensued that de- 

25* 



294 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

stroyed many lives. The first colonial assembly was called by Gov. 
Yeardley in 1G19, and two years afterwards, a special ordinance con- 
firmed the right of holding such a local legislature. 

The proceedings of the Company in England had now awakened the 
jealousy of the crown ; and these misfortunes gave King James the 
pretext that he wanted for depriving them of their charter, and taking 
the government into his own hands. Of course, it was administered on 
the arbitrary principles Avhich were then in favor at court. Complete 
legislative and executivfe power was given to a governor and a council of 
twelve persons, all nominated by the crown ; and this power was tyran- 
nically exercised. Yet the General Assembly, though not formally 
authorized, was still permitted to meet, though it was much restricted 
in the exercise of its functions. At one time, the patience of the settlers 
gave way, and they seized their governor. Sir John Harvey, 
and sent him a prisoner to England to answer for his mis- 
conduct. With the native obstinacy of his character, Charles I. resented 
this act as savoring of audacity and rebellion, and sent back the obnox- 
ious governor, with a fresh commission, under which he ruled more 
tyrannically than ever. Still, the prevailing sentiment in the colony was 
eminently loyal, and during the English Civil War, they took sides, as 
long as they durst, with the king, against the Parliament. Many of the 
settlers, as has been said, were decayed gentlemen and unportioned sons 
of noble families, in whose minds the prejudices of rank were rather 
heightened than diminished by the want of fortune. The Church of 
England was established by law, regular stipends being allotted to its 
ministers in every parish, and the preachers of any other persuasion were 
not allowed to exercise their functions. The English law of primogeni- 
ture and entail regulated the descent of property; and the wealthier 
colonists, directing the labor of many indented servants and slaves, lived 
apart on their plantations, affecting something of the state of a landed 
aristocracy. After the ruin of the king's cause at home, in 1645, many 
of the disbanded cavaliers found refuge in Virginia, bringing with them 
their sentiment of chivalrous attachment to Church and King. 

§ 413. In 1G71, Gov. Berkeley estimated the population of the colony 
at 40,000, including 2,000 negro slaves, and 6,000 indented white ser- 
vants. The character of his administration may be inferred from a com- 
munication made by him, this year, to the English Privy Council. " I 
thank God," he wrote, "there are no free schools or printing, and I hope 
we shall not have any these hundred years ; for learning has brought 
disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has 
divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us 
from both!" Yet a few years afterwards, discontent had become so 
general that a rebellion broke out, and for a few months the insurgents 
had entire control of the government. Nathaniel Bacon, a young law- 



VIRGINIA. 295 

yer, distinguished for his talents and activity, was the popular leader in 
this movement. The people wished to commence hostilities with the 
Indians, whose conduct had been such as to occasion great excitement 
and fears of a general conspiracy against the whites. But it is probable 
that other grievances, some of which were of long standing, were the 
true causes of the outbreak, and that the Indian war was only a pretext. 
Six hundred volunteers were collected, Bacon was chosen 
their leader, and Gov. Berkeley was asked to give him a com- 
mission to act against the savages. The governor not only refused, but 
commanded the men to disperse under pain of being considered as traitors; 
and summoning those who were faithful to his standard, he set out in pur- 
suit of them. But while he was gone, the counties near Jamestown broke 
out in insurrection, seized the capital, and took possession of the govern- 
ment. Berkeley was compelled to yield, to dissolve the old Assembly, 
which had been long in session and had become unpopular, and to issue 
writs for a new election. Bacon and a large majority of his friends were 
returned to the new Assembly. Among them were many persons of 
wealth and influence. A commission to act against the Indians was still 
refused him, and fearing treachery, he left the city, called together his 
adherents, returned at the head of 500 men, and dictated his own terms to 
the enraged but powerless Berkeley. Bacon was appointed general, was 
authorized to raise an army of a thousand men, and to prosecute the war 
vigorously; The Assembly then turned its attention to the redress of 
grievances. The right of choosing members of the Assembly and of 
voting in parish matters was restored to the freemen, some unjust exemp- 
tions from taxes were taken away, tippling houses were regulated, and an 
act was passed of oblivion and indemnity for those who had been engaged 
in the recent disturbances. But the governor's spirit was not yet sub- 
dued. After the Assembly was dissolved, he again denounced Bacon as 
a rebel, retired for a time to Accoraac to muster his friends, and then 
returned with an armed force, and took possession of the capital. But 
the insurgents besieged him there, and he was again obliged to leave, 
while the town was set on fire and wholly consumed. But in the midst 
of these successes. Bacon was suddenly taken sick and died ; and no pro- 
per person being found to take his place, the army was dispersed, and 
the insurrection abandoned. Berkeley returned in triumph, and punish- 
ed the rebels with great rigor, some of their leaders being condemned 
and executed, and others were seqtenced to pay heavy fines. He then 
went to England, where, instead of the praise and rewards that he 
expected, he was severely censured for his cruelty. He died a few 
months afterwards, as it was reported, of chagrin. An act of general 
pardon and oblivion was sent out from England, and other mild and 
popular measures soon wiped out the memory of Bacon's rebellion. 
Needy and covetous governors still provoked occasional discontent ; but 



296 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

the spirit of the people was eminently loyal, so that they were tardy and 
reluctant to acknowledge the revolution of 1G88, and only after repeated 
commands was a proclamation issued announcing the succession ot 
William and Mai-y to the English throne. 

§414. Plymouth. Far difFei-ent was the character of the emigrants 
who founded the New England Colonies, under grants from the Ply- 
mouth Company. These were Puritans of the straitest sect, Independ- 
ents in their notions of Church government, and now fast verging 
towards republicanism, in consequence of their long continued opposition 
to the constituted authorities of Church and State at home. The intole- 
rant spirit of the English hierarchy and the arbitrary proceedings of the 
court made their residence in England uncomfortable, if not perilous ; 
and they looked to voluntary exile for deliverance. A company of them, 
under the Rev. John Robinson as pastor, and William Brewster as 
ruling elder, embarked for Holland in 1G08, carrying their wives, 
children, and little property along with them. They were kindly 
received by the Dutch, who were Protestants, and they remained over 
ten years in peace at Leyden. But Puritans as they were, they were 
still Englishmen ; they disliked the sound of a foreign language, and the 
prospect that their children would intermarry with the Dutch, and forget 
their English parentage and the customs of their forefathers. The 
greater part of them, therefore, determined to emigrate to America, and 
for this purpose, returned first to England, where they easily procured 
the promise of a grant of land from the London Company, as they in- 
tended to establish themselves within what were then the limits of Vir- 
ginia. They sailed from Plymouth in the ship Mayflower, and after a 
tedious and stormy voyage of over two months, arrived at Cape Cod, 
nearly two degrees north of the place which they had aimed at. The 
lateness of the season, however, the fatigues of the voyage, and the perils 
of coasting along a shore which had been but imperfectly explored, pre- 
vented them from putting to sea again, and they sought a spot for their 
settlement in that neighborhood. But as they were then without the 
limits of the Virginia Company, and the Crown had refused to grant 
them a charter, they deemed it necessary, before leaving the vessel, to 
sign an agreement, promising to submit to whatever "just and equal 
laws and ordinances might be thought convenient for the general good." 
They selected Plymouth, which offered a tolerably good harbor in the 
southwestern part of Massachusetts Bay, as a suitable place for the com- 
mencement of a colony; and on the 22d of December, 1G20, the Pil- 
grims, as they might now well be termed, landed there, numbering only 
one hundred and one, including the women and children. John Carver 
was chosen their first governor, and Miles Standish their military leader, 
as they had some apprehensions of the savages. Divided into nineteen 
families, they immediately began to fell trees and construct houses, in 



PLYMOUTH. 297 

which to find shelter against the rigors of the winter. But their expo- 
sure was necessarily great, and they had but a slender stock of provisions 
and other necessaries. Sickness came upon them, and during the first 
five months, they lost more than half of their number. 

One of their associates, who had been left behind in England, obtained 
for them a grant of land from the Company which was now incorporated, 
under a new charter, as " The Council established at Plymouth, in the 
County of Devon, (England,) for the Planting, Ruling, Ordering, and 
Governing of New England in America." This grant authorized tlie 
colonists to choose a Governor, Council, and General Court, for the 
enactment and execution of laws. Strictly speaking, however, the Com- 
l^any had no right to give them any thing more than the property of the 
soil. A charter from the Crown was necessary to complete their politi- 
cal organization ; and this they never obtained. But the necessity of the 
case compelled them to act as if they had received full powers; and their 
remoteness and insignificance prevented the authorities at home from 
questioning their right. The agreement which they had signed on board 
the Mayflower was the basis of their legislation ; and for some time, all 
the settlers came together in a general assembly, to enact the necessary 
laws. Thus, in its origin, the colony was the purest democracy on earth. 
Time showed the inconveniences of such an arrangement, and the legisla- 
tive power was then delegated to an Assembly, composed of representa- 
tives from the several towns. Land and other property were at first 
held in common, the Company in England being entitled to a specified 
share of the total profits. But this experiment turned out like the simi- 
lar one in Virginia ; finding that industry was discouraged by it, the 
Colonists succeeded in purchasing, on credit, the share of the London 
partners. A division was then made of the land and movable property, 
and henceforth each one reaped the fruits of his own toil. The people 
were united in religious faith, and wished not to be disturbed by theolo- 
gical controversies ; so, when one Lyford, a clergyman of the Church of 
England, was sent out to them as a suitable pastor, in place of Robinson, 
who had died at Leyden, they refused to receive him, and exercised their 
undoubted right of ownership of the soil, by expelling him, and two who 
adhei-ed to him, Oldham and Conant, from their territory. These 
banished persons established themselves at Nantasket, just beyond the 
limits of the Plymouth colonists. The soil around Plymouth was thin 
and poor, and the people had brought but few worldly goods along with 
them ; thus, the progress of the settlement was slow. Some of their old 
companions, who had been left behind in Holland, now came out to join 
them; and a few others, attracted by similarity of worship, and by the 
prospect of driving a little traffic in fish and peltry, were added to their 
number. But ten years after the landing at Plymouth, the population 
numbered only three hundred. Their territory, indeed, was but small. 



298 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

being bounded on the land side by a line drawn northerly from the mouth 
of Narraganset river, till it met one carried westerly from Cohasset 
rivulet, " at the uttermost limits of a place called Pocanoket." 

§ 415. Massachusetts. But encouraged by the growth of this 
colony, feeble as it was, the Council of New England proceeded to make 
lavish grants of their remaining lands, and to send out other bands of 
emigrants, taking little care to define the boundaries of the new grants, 
or to avoid ceding to one company or individual the very tract already 
bestowed upon another. This negligence was the cause of much subse- 
quent dispute and difficulty. A few persons also established themselves 
at various points along the coast, who had no formal title to any land, but 
who were afterwards generally admitted to have an imperfect right, 
founded on occupancy and prescription. Some few fishing settlements 
were thus established; but their inhabitants had not the disposition to 
toil, the habits of order and self-denial, or the indomitable perseverance 
which characterized the Puritans. All their establishments Avere subse- 
quently absorbed by the Massachusetts colony, which became the chief 
agent in the settlement of New England. 

The persecution of all who would not conform to the Established 
Church still continuing in England, and king Charles having avowed his 
purpose to govern without a Parliament, many of the wealthier class of 
Puritans now determined to emigrate to America. A company was 
formed at the instigation of Mr. White, a clergyman of Dorchester ; 
among its members were John Humphrey and Isaac Johnson, two bro- 
thers-in-law of the Earl of Lincoln, John Winthrop, a gentleman of 
landed property in Suffolk, Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Endicott, 
Thomas Dudley, William Coddington, Richard Bellingham, Matthew 
Cradock, and other merchants and lawyers of w^ealth and influence in 
London and some of the northern and midland counties. They obtained 
from the Council for New England a grant of a tract of land, bounded 
by two parallel lines running westward to the Pacific Ocean, one drawn 
three miles north of any part of the Merrimac river, and the other, three 
miles south of any portion of the Charles. Soon afterwards, their organ- 
ization was completed by a charter from the Crown, which incorporated 
them under the title of the " Governor and Company of Massachusetts 
Bay in New England," with power to admit what new members or free- 
m.en they might choose. They were supposed to be a private trading 
corporation, resident in England, where they were to make laws and 
regulations for the government of their colofiy in America. A governor, 
deputy-governor, and eighteen assistants were to have the management 
of their affairs ; and these officers wei"e to be chosen, and all important 
laws enacted, at a " Great and General Court" of all the freemen, to be 
held quarterly. A company of sixty or seventy persons, under John 
Endicott, were sent out in 1G28, who commenced a settlement at Salem; 



MASSACHUSETTS. 299 

and these were followed, the next year, by six ships, bringing about two 
hundred colonists, of whom many were indented servants, together with 
a stock of cattle and other necessaries. It was soon manifest, however, 
that a colony, to be prosperous, must have the management of its own 
affairs, without being obliged to wait for orders from a distance. John 
Winthrop and many other leading stockholders offered to emigrate, if 
they were allowed to carry the charter and the government along with 
them. The legality of such a measure was at least doubtful ; but the 
urgency of the case removed all scruple, and the colonists probably hoped 
that the remoteness of their new home would screen their proceedings 
from public notice. New officers were therefore chosen from those who 
were disposed to emigrate; and in April, 1630, a fleet of fifteen ships, 
equipped at an expense of £20,000, sailed from the Isle of Wight, hav- 
ing on board Winthrop and Dudley as governor and deputy-governor, 
together with most of the assistants, and a company of about one thou- 
sand persons. They began a settlement at Charlestown, but soon removed 
to the neighboring peninsula of Trimountain, which they named Boston, 
after the English town whence some of the chief emigrants came. The 
hardships of the first winter, which was a severe one, caused disease to 
break out among them, and over two hundred died, among whom wei'e 
Isaac Johnson, and his wife, the lady Arabella. But after this period, the 
order and industry which prevailed in the colony, the commencement of 
trade with Virginia and the Dutch at Manhattan (New York), and the 
rapid influx of settlers, driven away from England by the religious and 
political persecution which still raged there, laid the foundations of steady 
growth and permanent prosperity. During the first ten years after the 
settlement of Massachusetts, about twenty-five thousand persons left their 
native land to find a home in New England. 

§ 416. The government of the colony was theocratic in many of its 
features, modified at first by an aristocratic or patriarchal element, which 
was soon eliminated, however, by the force of circumstances, that set 
strongly towards republican institutions. The few men of wealth and con- 
sideration, who were the leaders of the emigration, naturally strove to 
retain the chief power and influence in their own hands, and to govern 
according to their notions of what religion and the word of God required; 
and in this attempt, they were strongly seconded by the ministers of the 
churches. At first, the people, with the instinctive respect of English- 
men for rank and station, gave way to them, and conferred the whole 
power of legislation on the governor and the assistants, who were fami- 
liarly known as " the magistrates." Even a council for life at one time 
was instituted, but it continued only for a few years, and the freemen 
also resumed the power of enacting laws. Still, they were moderate in 
the exercise of their functions ; aud persons once chosen to the board of 
magistrates were usually reappointed, no one being left out but for some 



300 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

extraordinary cause. Purity of faith and worship was the chief motive 
for estahlishing the colony. The people wished to be free, not only from 
persecution, but from the presence of other sects and from theological con- 
troversies. Only such persons were to be admitted to be freemen, or voters, 
as those who were already freemen should designate ; and this privilege 
was soon confined by law to those who were members of the churches. 
But as there was little difference among them in point of religious opi- 
nion, and as most of the adult males, or at least, nearly all the heads of 
families, were church members, this exclusive privilege created no gene- 
ral discontent. The magistrates exercised their large powers resolutely 
to keep out heretics and schismatics, and to maintain religious worship 
and practice in all their purity. Those who did not agree with them 
were required to go elsewhere, and establish a colony for themselves. 
Roger Williams, and some followers of Mrs. Hutchinson, did so, and 
founded a new settlement in Ehode Island. Others took refuge in New 
Hampshire ; but Massachusetts claimed the land there as a part of her 
own territory, and from 1640 to 1680, the claim was made good. A few 
Quakers gave great annoyance by their fonatical and outrageous conduct; 
they were once and again dismissed, with threats in case they returned. 
They did come again, and then three of them were hanged. The magis- 
trates, on this occasion, published a defence of their conduct, dwelling 
especially on the case of Mary Dyer, who was a third comer, and had 
been once reprieved when already on the gallows, as a proof that they 
desired, not the death, but the absence, of the Quakers. Some adherents 
of the Church of England, who had come out without invitation to join 
them, were summarily sent back to the mother country. Two hundred 
years ago, the principles of religious toleration were but little undei'stood; 
yet as the Company owned the territory, and had emigrated for the 
avowed purpose of forming a religious community by themselves, it is 
perhaps harsh in us to charge them wath intolerance. They had a right 
to expel intruders. 

§ 417. Of course, great severity of manners and punctiliousness of reli- 
gious observances were enjoined. Various sumptuary laws were enact- 
ed ; the Sabbath was observed with Jewish strictness ; blasphemy, witch- 
craft, and adultery, were punished with death ; slanderers were whipt, 
cropped, and banished. But except in these particulars, and a few others 
of no great importance, the Mosaic law was not established in the colony. 
The people had good sense enough to see that it was not adapted to the 
circumstances and the times. No restriction was imposed upon them 
except that contained in the Charter, that no laws should be made repug- 
nant to the laws of England ; and this was construed very liberally, to 
mean that no part of the English law was in force there till it was 
expressly reiinacted. At first, the magistrates governed without any 
other rule than their own sense of right and their interpretation of the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 301 

law of God. But the people becoming jealous of so large a disci'etion, a 

code, or " Body of Liberties," was established, consisting of 

A. D. 1641. ', ,,•'., , . , . , , . -, 

one hundred articles, drawn up with singular brevity and 

clearness, embracing many of the best and most liberal provisions of the 

English Common Law, and, in some respects, in advance both of English 

and American law at the present day. This code became the basis of 

legislation, not only in Massachusetts, but throughout New England, the 

other colonies adopting many of its most important provisions. In one 

important respect, the Mosaic rule was followed in preference to the 

English law ; the estates of persons dying without a will were divided 

equally among the children, except that the eldest son received a double 

share. This law, favoring the distribution rather than the aggregation 

of property, made the establishment of a territorial aristocracy impossible, 

kept up the idea of equality among the people, and tended strongly to the 

development of republican sentiments. 

Another circumstance, which silently fostered the democratic spirit of 
the people, was the great extent of their territory in comparison with 
their numbers, and the disposition that has characterized them from that 
day to this, to spread themselves over the face of the country, instead of 
remaining together on one spot. When as yet they were only a few hun- 
dred in number, instead of seeking protection against the savages and 
other perils of the wilderness by union and concentration, they colonized 
a dozen or twenty distinct townships, the extremes of which were some 
thirty miles apart. Eight townships were represented in a General 
Court held only two years after Winthrop landed ; and before the colony 
was ten years old, or contained in all more than 15,000 settlers, at least 
twenty distinct settlements were formed. But the most remarkable 
instance of this tendency to segregation took place as early as 1634, when 
Mr. Hooker and his whole church at Newtown jietitioned for leave to 
remove to Connecticut, the avowed reason for this step being the'want 
of pasturage for their cattle ; and " it was alleged by Mr. Hooker as a 
fundamental error, that the towns were set so near to each other." The 
settlements being thus scattered, and the colony as a whole being imper- 
fectly organized, each toAvn was obliged from the first to direct its own 
expenditures and manage its own affairs. The inhabitants held town- 
meetings, levied taxes to provide for their common wants, chose execu- 
tive officers, afterwards termed " selectmen," and in fact created a little 
republic nearly complete in oi'ganization. It is now generally admitted, 
that the tone of American politics and the general character of American 
institutions have been more controlled by the influences of the township- 
system of New England than by all other causes united. 

In the main, also, there was great equality among the colonists in point 
of fortune and social position. Many English gentlemen and wealthy 
merchants, as we have seen, favored the emigration, and some embarked 

26 



302 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

in it. But the liappy and the powerful do not often go into exile, and 
the perils and hardships of a home in the wilderness prevented many 
persons of wealth fi-om joining in the enterprise, and caused others to 
leave it after a brief sojourn in New England. Humphrey, Saltonstall, 
Vane, and Vassall returned to their native land after a short stay, and 
the Johnsons died. The great bulk of the colonists were of the middhng 
and lower classes of English society ; very few were wealthy, nearly all 
were dependent on the labor of their hands. Equality of social claims 
was the natural basis of equality of political rights. There was a germ 
of republicanism in the colony from the outset, — a natural tendency 
towards universal eligibility and universal suffrage. 

§ 418. The first care of the settlers of Massachusetts Avas to provide 
for universal education and universal worship. The several townships 
that were organized were so many distinct churches, which admitted their 
own members, chose their own pastors, and managed their own affairs. 
Each town, either by levying a tax or by voluntary contributions, pro- 
vided buildings for public worship and salaries for their ministers. When 
Boston was but six years old, the General Court passed an order, appro- 
priating a sum, equal to the amount raised by a year's taxation to defray 
all the public expenditures of the colony, for the establishment of a col- 
lege at Newtown; and two years afterwards, John Harvard, a clergyman 
of Charlestown, bequeathing half of his estate for the same object, Har- 
vard College was founded. Free schools were established in seyeral of 
the towns; and in 1649, a general system of popular education was esta- 
blished throughout the colony, each township being required to maintain 
a free school for reading and writing, and every town of a hundred house- 
holders a grammar school, "to fit youths for the university." Tlie pre- 
amble of this law declares that the motive for passing it was to provide 
" that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fathers," — " it be- 
ing one chief project of that old deluder, Sathan, to keep men from the 
knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in an 
unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading men from the use 
of tongues." The grim Puritan of those days believed his child's soul 
would be in danger if he were not enabled to read the Bible for himself; 
and thus care for general education naturally grew out of care for the 
interests of religion. As the democratic spirit spread among the people, 
they reclaimed the legislative authority for themselves ; and a body of 
representatives, consisting of two or three delegates from each 

. T) 1634 -i 7 o o 

town, were united with " the magistrates " for the purpose of 
enacting laws. At first, the representatives sat and voted in the same 
chamber with the assistants ; but in 1C44, a division was made, and the 
two classes afterwards formed separate houses of legislation. 

§ 419. During the first few years in the history of the settlement, the 
Indians had given uo cause for alarm. Just before the arrival of the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 303 

whites, a contagious disease bad raged among the native tribes, nearly- 
exterminating some of them, so that the territory seemed providentially 
left vacant for occupation by the English. But as the white settlements 
increased in number, the jealousy of the Indians was aroused ; and in 
1637, the Pequods, a tribe dwelling on the banks of what is now called 
the Thames river, in Connecticut, began hostilities. But as they were 
yet very imperfectly provided with tire-arms, they formed but a con- 
temptible enemy. A band of eighty men, under Captain Mason, were 
sent against them, who, with the aid of a few friendly Indians, attacked 
their palisadoed village in the grey of the morning, forced their way into 
it, set fire to the wigwams, and killed about six hundred of the savages. 
The next month, another band attacked the remainder of the tribe, who 
had taken refuge in a swamp, killed many of them, and took about two 
hundred prisoners, who were afterwards kept as slaves, a portion being 
sent to the West Indies to be sold. The few who escaped found a home 
among the Narraganset and Mohegan Indians, and the Pequod tribe 
ceased to exist. 

To guard against the dangers apprehended not only from the Indians, 
but "from the Dutch and the French, a confederacy was formed in 1G43, 
between the four colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and 
New Haven, to form rules for regulating intercourse with the savages, 
and to render mutual aid if a war should break out. In consequence of 
this union, the whites became more respected and feared by the native 
tribes, several of whom sought their alliance and protection. But in 
1675, Philip of Mount Hope, a chief of the Wampanoags in Rhode 
Island, began hostilities, in which he was soon joined by nearly all the 
native tribes in New England. The Indians were now well supplied 
with fire-arms, and were expert in the arts of ambush and forest warfare, 
in which as yet the whites were very deficient. A fearful contest ensued, 
which brought all the white settlements to the verge of destruction. It 
lasted nearly a year, in the course of which, upwards of two thousand 
Indians were killed or taken, and some of the New England tribes were 
exterminated. The whites suffered terribly ; twelve or thirteen of their 
towns were entirely ruined, six hundred houses had been burned, and 
about six hundred men had fallen in battle. No assistance was received 
from England, and the expenses of the war burdened Massachusetts with 
a heavy debt. But henceforward, no great danger was apprehended from 
the Indians, except when they acted as allies of the French. 

§ 420. Frequent complaints were made to the Privy Council in Eng- 
land, that the acts of trade were generally disregarded by Massachusetts, 
and that the conduct and laws of the colony in many other respects were 
in violation of the charter and subversive of the authority of the crown. 
Commissioners were sent out to make inquiries respecting these subjects 
of complaint. But the breach was only widened by this measure, as the 



304 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

commissioners were captious and insolent in their language and conduct, 
and the General Court was obstinate and not over respectful. Charles 
II., who had just triumphed after a long contest with the popular party 
at home, had taken away the franchises of the city of London, and confis- 
cated the charters of nearly all the boroughs in the realm, was in no 
humor to be bearded by a few daring sectaries in New England. Legal 
proceedings were instituted, and before Massachusetts could engage coun-r 
sel in her defence, judgment was entered by default, and the charter de- 
clared to be forfeited. The government of the colony was thus thrown 
entirely into the hands of the king ; and James IT., who had now come to 
the throne, appointed Sir Edmund Andros to be governor of all New 
England, the charters of the other colonies being either forfeited or in 
abeyance. The popular legislative assemblies were dissolved, and Sir 
Edmund, with authority to appoint and remove the members of his coun- 
cil at pleasure, enacted laws and governed as he saw fit. For more than 
two years, his yoke was heavy upon the necks of the people. Then came 
a rumor that a revolution had taken place in England, and that the Prince 
of Orange already was, or would soon be, on the throne, in place of the 
deposed James II.; and without waiting to learn whether it was any thing 
April, more than a rumor, the inhabitants of Boston seized their 

A. D. 1G89. arms, imprisoned Andros and his chief adherents, and rein- 
stated their beloved charter government, with the venerable Simon Brad- 
street at its head. Then ensued a negotiation with the government of 
William and Mary, for the restoration of the old charter. But the king 
and his ministers were determined to strengthen the royal prerogative, 
and they would only offer a new charter, far less liberal in its provisions 
than the old one, with the significant intimation that the colony might 
take that or none. Finding that they would otherwise be governed at 
the royal pleasure, the people very reluctantly accepted the new instru- 
ment, by which Plymouth and Maine were united to Massachusetts, and 
the appointment of the governor, secretary, and all admiralty officers was 
reserved to the crown. The governor might convoke and adjourn the 
General Court at pleasure ; he had a negative upon the election of coun- 
cillors and the enactment of laws, and a right to nominate all judges and 
military officers. The laws were to be transmitted to England, even 
after he had sanctioned them; and if disapproved by the king within 
three years from the time of their enactment, they became void. The 
right of suffrage was no longer confined to church members, but was 
given to all who had 40 shillings income from freehold property, or 40 
pounds of personal estate. 

§ 421. The first royal governor appointed was Sir William Phips, 

whose administration was distinguislied only by the unhappy popular 

delusion, usually called the Salem Witchcraft. Some children 

were, or pretended to be, thrown into convulsions ; and they 



NEW ENGLAND. 305 

accused certain persons of bewitching them. The mania spread ; others 
declared that they were afflicted, pinched, and bruisetl, and when the wit- 
nesses and the accused were confronted in open coui't, the former seemed 
to be thrown into an agony, and charged the latter with tormenting them 
by diabolical means. Every one against whom they " cried out " was 
arrested, and the prisons were soon filled. Some w'eak-minded persons 
among the prisoners were persuaded or terrified into a confession of 
guilt, and then bore witness against others ; and upon this accumulation 
of evidence, many were convicted. Twenty persons were hanged, among 
whom was Mr. Burroughs, a clergyman ; and one old man, aged eighty 
years, was pressed to death. Many others were cried out against, and 
fled for their lives. At last, the extravagance of the evil began to work 
its cure. The witnesses accused some persons who stood so high in 
character and station, that the belief even of the credulous mob was 
shocked. A reaction took place, juries refused to convict, the jails were 
emptied, and some of the judges and those who had been active in the 
prosecutions made a public profession of their errors and their peni- 
tence. 

§ 422. Other New England Colonies. Having sketched the 
history of Virginia, Plymouth, and Massachusetts, during the seven- 
teenth century, a few words must suffice for the other Colonies. Roger 
"Williams and some other religious exiles from Massachusetts colonized 
Rhode Island in 1638, having purchased the land of the Narraganset 
Indians. They obtained a patent from the Long Parliament six years 
afterwards, and in 1G63, Charles 11. granted them a very liberal chartei', 
under which they chose their own officers and enacted their own laws 
with almost as much freedom as if they had been an independent 
republic. By the influence of Williams, perfect religious toleration was 
established in this Colony, men being held responsible for their religious 
opinions and practice only to their God. The territory of Connecticut 
was granted, in 1630, to the Earl of Warwick, who soon assigned his 
right to Lord Say and Seale, Lord Brook, and others. Several settle- 
ments were formed on the Connecticut river, in 1635-6, by Mr. Hooker 
and other emigrants from Massachusetts, who at first acknowledged the 
authority of the Colony they had just left, but soon established a govern- 
ment for themselves, modelled on that of Massachusetts. Hartford was 
their chief town. About the same time. Lord Say and Seale with his 
associates sent over JohnWinthrop the younger, with instructions to 
build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut, and erect buildings to 
accommodate such settlers as might come thither. This was the origin 
of Saybrook. In 1637, Mr. Davenport, with a company of emigrants, 
some of them men of wealth, arrived in New England, and after some 
hesitation as to the choice of a place, they founded a settlement at Nevir 
Haven. They were rigid Puritans, who wished to establish a community 

20* 



306 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

conforming in all things to their peculiar principles. They admitted 
only church members to be freemen, and resolved that the Word of God 
should be the only rule in their administration. The Dutch laid claim 
to the whole country, and the dispute between them and the English 
settlers was more than once on the verge of breaking out into open war. 
Charles II., soon after his restoration, granted to Connecticut a charter 
quite as liberal as that given to Rhode Island ; but as this instrument 
brouo-ht to^-ether the two distinct settlements of Hartford and New 
Haven, the people of the latter place were very reluctant to accept it, 
and only yielded, after some years' delay, to the fear that a general 
governor might be sent out from England to rule them. From the 
period of this union, 1665, the progress of the Colony was steady and 
prosperous. The territory of New IlAMrsiiiRE was granted by the 
Plymouth Company to Capt. John Mason, in 1629. But few settlements 
were formed under his management, principally by fishermen and exiles 
from Massachusetts, who remained for some time without any govern- 
ment but such as they established for themselves. Exeter, Dover, and 
Portsmouth, then called Strawberiy Bank, were the only towns that con- 
tained many inhabitants. In 1641, they voluntarily placed themselves 
under the protection of Massachusetts, who had always claimed the land, 
and who continued to govern them till 1G79, when, by a decree of the 
king in council, New' Hampshire was made a separate province, to be 
governed by a President and Council, appointed by the king, and a 
House of Representatives elected by the people. Frequent disputes 
ensued, both with their rulers, and with Mason and his heirs respecting 
the titles to their lands. But after the Revolution of 1688, most of these 
controversies were quieted, and excepting frequent hostilities with the 
Indians, the people prospered. Maine was originally granted to Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges, and was purchased of his heirs, in 1677, by Massa- 
chusetts, for £1,200, it having been governed by that Colony for many 
years previous, under a disputed title. The controversy ending with tliis 
purchase, Maine remained a part of Massachusetts till a very recent 
period. 

§ 423. 'New Yokk. The Dutch, founding on the explorations of 
Henry Hudson a claim to the Hudson river and an indefinite extent of 
territory through which it flows, built some fortified trading posts near 
its mouth as early as 1613. They also explored the northern coast of 
Long Island Sound, and both shores of Delaware Bay ; and on the 
strength of these discoveries, an Amsterdam company obtained from the 
States General an exclusive grant to trade along the coast between the 
40th and 45th degrees of latitude, a region by them called New Nether- 
land. The English never allowed their claim, which only became im- 
portant when, in 1621, it passed into the hands of the Dutch West India 
Company, a wealthy association with large privileges, and capable of 



NEW YORK. 307 

conducting extensive operations. Under their direction, Fort Orange 
was built where Albany now stands; and in 1626, the island of Man- 
hattan was purchased of the Indians, and Fort Amsterdam erected at 
its southern extremity. As yet, traffic with the savages in peltry was 
the only object of these establishments ; but in 1629, a scheme was ma- 
tured for forming Dutch settlements in the country. Extensive grants 
of land were offered to any member of the Company, who, under the 
name of Patroon, should establish a colony of at least fifty persons upon 
it ; and as much land as they could cultivate was offered to any free 
settlers who should remove thither at their own expense. Under these 
offers, some of the most inviting lands were taken up; but the progress 
of colonization was slow, agriculture being made secondary to trade with 
the Indians. A port was established on the Connecticut, near Hartford, 
wdiich soon led to a sharp dispute with the English settlers in that 
region. The Swedes also came into collision with the Dutch, by attempt- 
ing, under the sanction of the renowned Gustavus Adolphus, to found a 
settlement and trading post on the west shore of Delaware Bay, a region 
claimed by the Hollanders. The Swedes bought some land of the 
Indians, and built a fort called Christina, — the germ of the Colony of 
New Sweden, now tile State of Delaware. The infant settlement was 
prudently managed, and might in a few years have become prosperous, 
if the Dutch had not attacked it, in 1655, with a force of six hundred 
men, who captured all the Swedish posts, and the region was again 
absorbed into New Netherland. 

A destructive Indian war was added to the other embarrassments of 
the Dutch. The latter showed themselves as great savages as their red 
opponents, who nearly overmatched them, and destroyed many of their 
most flourishing " boweries," or plantations. The people were harshly 
governed, being allowed no voice in the administration, and they com- 
plained that "under a king they could not be worse treated." The 
English were determined to monopolize the coast, and in 1664, Charles 
II. granted to his brother a large region, including New Netherland, to 
be called, in future, in honor of the Duke, New York. An expedition 
of six hundred men, under Sir Robert Nicholls, was fitted out to take 
possession ; and so many English were now settled in the Colony, the 
Dutch also being lukewarm towards their own government, that no op- 
position was offered. Liberal terms of capitulation were granted, and 
the territory was annexed without a blow to the domain of England. 
No popukur representation in the government was allowed till 1684, the 
Duke of York appointing a governor who ruled arbitrarily ; and even 
after that period, the administration continued to be distasteful to the 
people. When the news of the revolution of 1688 arrived, the inhabit- 
ants of New York rose in arms, like their brethren of Boston, and under 
the guidance of Jacob Leisler, a wealthy German merchant, deposed the 



308 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

former authorities of the place, and instituted a government of their own. 
The colony remained under Leisler's rule till March, 1691, when Col. 
Sloughter arrived, with a commission as governor, and his agent de- 
manded peremptorily the surrender of the fort. Leisler hesitated and 
delayed, and when at last he did obey, he was seized, together with his 
son-in-law, Milbourne, tried for rebellion, and executed. This proceed- 
ing was a harsh and hasty one ; and the king subsequently restored their 
confiscated estates to their heirs, and allowed their bodies to be taken 
up and reinterred with pomp, Avhile the people cherished their memory 
with affection and respect. 

§ 424. Maryland. George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a Eoman Catho- 
lic by religion, obtained from Charles I., in 1630, a grant of the then 
uninhabited shores of Chesapeake Bay, as an asylum for the persecuted 
Papists. The charter, which secured liberty of conscience, and equal 
privileges to the members of all Christian sects, was not issued till after 
this lord's death, and was then given to Cecil, his eldest son and heir. 
He sent out his brother, Leonard Calvert, as governor, with 

A. D. 1633. ' o ' 

about two hundred emigrants, mostly Koman Catholics, and 
a settlement was formed at St. Mary's, the new colony being called 
Maryland, in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria. The proprietary had 
full power to enact all necessary laws, not repugnant to the laws of Eng- 
land, and not without the advice and approbation of the freemen of the 
province or their representatives; — this being the first provision in any 
colonial charter for giving a legislative power to the people. The jDrovince 
was wisely and moderately governed, liberal grants of land being ofi'ered 
to all comers, to be held by the payment of a quit rent to the proprietor. 
Baltimore did not wish to shut out heretics from his colony ; Puritans 
and Church of England men were invited to come, under a promise of 
enjoying equal privileges with the Catholics ; thus Maryland became a 
general asylum for the persecuted of all sects. We are not surprised to 
learn, therefore, that, before Lord Baltimore's death in 1676, he was in 
receipt of a considerable income from the province, which then contained 
about sixteen thousand inhabitants, most of whom were Protestants. The 
people wisely sought support from agriculture rather than mining and 
trade. Yet they did not pass through the time of the Civil "War and the 
domination of the Long Parliament without annoyances and contests. 
During this period, of course. Lord Baltimore's principles were not in 
favor, and his colony was regarded with a jealous eye. William Clay- 
borne had obtained a royal license to trade in all those parts, and he and 
his associates denied the legality of the Maryland grant. The Parlia- 
ment sent out commissioners who displaced the officers of the proprietary, 
and put the government into the hands of the Puritans, who soon passed 
an act that excluded papists and prelatists from the benefit of the act of 
toleration. A civil war at one time raged in the colony, Roundheads 



THE CAROLINAS. 309 

and Cavaliers being opposed to each other, as in the mother land. But 
■with the restoration of Charles II., these troubles ceased, and the pros- 
perity of the settlement for a long period suffered but little interruption. 
Yet an order was passed in 1G81, for intrusting all offices to Protestants, 
so that the Catholics were disfranchised a second time in the colony they 
had founded. 

§ 425. The Carolinas. The territory on the coast south of Virgi- 
nia, extending nominally as far south as St. Augustine, was granted, in 
1GG3, to the great Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and six 
other eminent individuals. The whole region was to constitute one pro- 
vince, under the name of Carolina, the proprietors receiving, together 
with the grant of the land, ample powers of government. But a settle- 
ment had already been formed near Albemarle Sound by some religious 
exiles from Virginia, and another one, near the mouth of Cape Fear 
river, by some adventurers from New England, afterwards reinforced by 
a band of emigrants from Barbadoes. In 1 670, three ships were fitted 
out with colonists from England, under the command of AVilliam Sayle, 
who formed a settlement at Port Royal, which he soon removed to the 
peninsula at the mouth of the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, giving to the 
town that he founded there the name of Charleston. As this place was re- 
mote fron Albemarle, it obtained a separate government, and thus were 
created the two colonies of North and South Carolina. The proprietors 
gave public assurance that the settlers should enjoy unrestricted religious 
liberty, and that their representatives should have a voice in the enact- 
ment of laws. Unluckily they employed the celebrated philosopher, John 
Locke, to devise a scheme of government for the colony ; and he gave 
them, under the name of the " Grand Model," the most complicated and 
fanciful system that the wit of man ever contrived, and Avhich was a per- 
petual source of trouble and confusion for the quarter of a century dur- 
ing which it was in partial operation. It established two orders of nobi- 
lity, landgraves, and caciques; it assigned two fifths of the land for 
seignories, baronies, and manors, to be cultivated by a race of tenants 
attached to the soil, and the remaining three fifths were allotted to private 
freeholders ; and it erected a formidable bureaucracy, with officers and 
titles enough for a populous kingdom of the Old World. This rickety 
system could never be put into full operation, and in 1693, it was entirely 
abrogated. The motley population was swelled by two ship-loads of 
Dutch emigrants from New York, and by a cargo of slaves from Barbadoes. 
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many Huguenots came to 
South Carolina, and settled along the Santee ; they had been preceded 
by some Presbyterian settlers from the north of Ireland, and by a Scotch 
colony led by Lord Cardross. Religious toleration and the prospect of 
obtaining land on easy terms were the lures which drew so many differ- 
ent classes of immigrants. The population thus formed did not show 



310 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

themselves very tractable. They persisted in keeping up an illegal traf- 
fic with New England, they grumbled at paying quit rent to the proprie- 
taries, and they quarrelled with the arbitrary and rapacious governors 
who "\vere sent to rule over them. But in spite of these interruptions, 
the two colonies prospered, advancing steadily, though not rapidly, both 
in population and wealth. 

§ 420. Ne^w Jersey. The territory between the DelaAvare and Hud- 
son rivers, being included in the surrender by the Dutch to the English 
in 166-i, was granted by the Duke of York, under the name of New 
Jersey, to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. They sent over 
Philip Carteret as governor, with a liberal constitution for 
the new colony, and bountiful offers of land to all settlers 
who would come thither. Lord Berkeley sold his right, after he had held 
it ten years, to a company of Quakers, who, wishing to govern separately 
a region which might be an asylum for the persecuted of their sect, made 
an agreement with Carteret for the partition of the territory. The west- 
ern portion was assigned to them, the eastern to Carteret. A large com- 
pany, consisting principally of Quakers, then came from England, and 
settled in Burlington and its neighborhood, ample privileges being secured 
to them by a new constitution. A dispute ensued with the Duke of York 
respecting the title to their lands, as he pretended that, under a new 
patent which he had obtained from the crown, his original rights were 
restored. But the commissioners in England, to whom the matter was 
referi-ed, adjudged his claim to be invalid, and new settlers continuing to 
arrive, the colony became verj'' prosperous. East Jersey, also, in 1G82, 
was sold by the heirs of Carteret to William Penn and twenty-three asso- 
ciates, mostly Quakers, Avho appointed Eobert Barclay governor, and 
endeavored to attract emigrants thither. Many of the Scottish Cove- 
nanters, now suffering a deplorable persecution under Lauderdale and 
Claverhouse, fled from their native land, and found a pleasant and safe 
asylum in East Jersey. The numerous proprietors, weary of quarrelling 
with each other and with the people, surrendered their rights to the 
crown in 1702 ; and the two divisions were then united under one govern- 
ment. 

§ 427. Penxsylvania. Another Quaker colony was established, on 
a larger scale, by the celebrated William Penn, a man of great ability 
and integrity, resolute in purpose and energetic in conduct, a keen con- 
troversialist, and one who displayed on many occasions more shrewd- 
ness, knowledge of the world, and practical talent than are often found 
united with a fervor and sincerity of religious belief which had the 
appearance of an unruly fanaticism. The Quakers, indeed, while pre- 
serving Avith great steadfastness most of their inofiensive external pecu- 
liarities, had quietly undergone a considerable change in the manner and 
spirit of their proceedings, — a change attributable in some degree to 



PENNSYLVANIA. 311 

the influence of Penn himself. They were no longer the wild and ex- 
travagant sectaries, whose outrageous conduct, twenty years before, had 
troubled the peace of Massachusetts. Their manners had become quiet 
and discreet, and though they remained fearless of persecution, they no 
lono-er courted it. In consideration of the services of his father, a dis- 
tinguished admiral, Penn obtained from Charles II. a grant 
of the territory on the west bank of the river Delaware, ex- 
tending five degrees in longitude, and bounded by the 40th and 43d 
parallels of latitude ; and the king insisted on naming it Pennsylvania. 
The charter gave him the absolute property of the soil and ample powers 
of government, but required the advice and consent of the freemen of the 
province for the enactment of laws. The sturdy and independent spirit 
of the New England colonies having taught the crown lawyers a lesson 
of caution in drawing up colonial charters, it was stipulated in this case 
that the king might negative any enactment of the assembly, that parlia- 
ment might levy taxes, and that an appeal might be made to the crown 
from the decisions of the courts of justice. 

Acting under this charter, Penu drew up a very liberal " Frame of 
Government," and also published a body of laws, that had been examined 
and approved by a company of proposed emigrants in England. He 
also advertised the lands for sale, asking forty shillings, besides a perpe- 
tual quitrent of one shilling, for every hundred acres. Unlimited free- 
dom of conscience, and the right to be governed by laws enacted by 
themselves, were secured to the people. As the terms were liberal, and 
the advantages of the territory, in respect to climate, situation, fertility 
of the soil, and the friendly disposition of the neighboring Indians, were 
considerable, a crowd of emigrants presented themselves, comprising 
many Quakers and a number from Holland and Germany. The Duke 
of York, afterwards James II., with whom Penn was high in favor, made 
over to him all his own right to the three lower counties on the Dela- 
ware, first peopled by the Swedes, which had lately been governed as 
an appendage to the Duke's province of New York. These counties 
belonged geographically rather to Pennsylvania than New York, and 
possession of them was important for the new colony, as they already 
contained about 3,000 inhabitants, Swedes, Finns, and Dutch, steady and 
industrious in their habits, and inured to their situation. Besides these, 
a number of Swedish, Dutch, and English settlers were already establish- 
ed in other portions of the territory, by whom the new government was 
favorably received. William Markham, one of Penn's kinsmen, was 
sent out in 1681, with three ships and about three hundred emigrants, 
bearing a plan of the city which was to be founded at the confluence of 
the Schuylkill with the Delaware, and a very friendly message to the 
Indians, whose good will the new proprietor was anxious to concili- 
ate. Penn himself came out the next year, in the course of which 



312 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

twentj-tliree vessels arrived laden -with goods and emigrants. He held 
a friendly conference with the savages, under a large elin at Kensington, 
Avhicli afterwards became an object of much curiosity and respect, as 
marking the site of this famous interview. A treaty was made by which 
the Indians sold their lands on terms satisfactory to them, and stipulated 
to maintain peace and friendship, which promise was long religiously 
observed. The savages named him Onas, and though they gave the 
same title to the subsequent governors of the colony, they always referred 
to him as the great and good Onas. After laying out the new city of 
Philadelphia, so called from the spirit of brotherly love which was to 
animate its inhabitants, and holding a conference with Lord Baltimore 
about the disputed boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania, Penn 
returned, in 1684, to England. He did not visit America again till 
1699, and then made but a short stay. The progress of the new pro- 
vince was as rapid as its commencement had been auspicious. In 1684, 
it contained twenty settled townships and seven thousand inhabitants ; 
and not many years afterwards, the population was estimated at thirty 
thousand. Some of the laws proposed by Penn and adopted by the 
Assembly bore the imprint of his quaint and benevolent disposition. 
To prevent lawsuits, three arbitrators were to be appointed by the county 
courts, to hear and determine small controversies; children were to be 
taught some useful trade, to the end that none might be idle ; agents 
who wronged their employers should make restitution and one third 
over ; and the property of intestates was to be divided equally among 
the children, except that the eldest son should receive a double share. 
And yet Penn reaped little but disappointment and vexation from his 
connection with the colony. His great mistake seems to have consisted 
in reserving a quitrent, instead of making over the land absolutely to the 
settlers. Though the annual payment Avas but small, and was justly due 
to him, as in no other manner could he be remunerated for his actual 
outlay, the demand of it was a fruitful source of annoyance and discon- 
tent. Penn had great difficulty in collecting it, became impoverished, 
and was at one time imprisoned for debt. The impossibility of satisfying 
all the demands of the people while their uneasiness really proceeded 
from this annual exaction, and the boundary controversy with Lord 
Baltimore, embittered all the latter part of his life. He founded a pros- 
perous colony, but he sacriticed his own interests and his peace of mind 
in the undertaking. The lower counties on the Delaware, complaining 
that their peculiar interests were not attended to, were allowed to dissolve 
the legislative union with Pennsylvania, but remained subject to the 
same governor. 

§ 428. Georgia was founded in 1732, under a jilan formed by Gene- 
ral Oglethorpe and some other benevolent gentlemen, in order to esta- 
blish a place of refuge for poor debtors and other indigent persons from 



GEORGIA. 313 

Great Britain, and for persecuted Protestants from all nations. A grant 
was obtained from the king of the unoccupied territory on the right bank 
of the Savannah river, the land to be apportioned gratuitously among the 
settlers, charitable donations being made to defray the expense of trans- 
porting them across the Atlantic, and supporting them during the first 
season. Funds were freely contributed for this generous purpose, under 
the hope that the measure would reduce the poor rates in England, and 
empty the workhouses and debtors' jails. But the class of persons thus 
sent out were very unfit for the work of creating a new settlement and 
subduing the wilderness. They were chiefly broken-down tradesmen 
and impoverished debauchees ; while sailors, agriculturists, and laborers 
from the country were needed. A company of persecuted Lutherans 
from Salzburg,* and one of Scotch Highlanders, who settled respectively 
the towns of Ebenezer and New Inverness, formed industrious and thriv- 
ing colonists. Oglethorpe brought over the first band of emigrants, and 
founded the city of Savannah. The colony being regarded as in a state 
of pupilage, its affairs were administered, for the first twenty years, by a 
board of trustees, nominated in the charter, who were to appoint their 
associates and successors, and had the exclusive right of legislation. The 
generous motto on their official seal, non sili, sed aliis (not for them- 
selves, but for others,) showed the benevolent purposes with which they 
acted. Some of their measures were wise, others were preposterous. 
They strictly forbade the introduction of negro slaves ; the use of rum 
was prohibited ; no grant of land was to exceed five hundred acres ; the 
land was not to be sold or devised by the holders, but was to descend to 
male children only, and in case of the failure of such heirs, was to revert 
to the trustees. But these laws did not long remain in force ; slavery 
was introduced from the neighboring province of Carolina ; females were 
allowed to inherit, and the land became subject to the same regulations 
as other property. So long as the colony was managed by trustees, and 
considered as an object of charity, it languished, and large sums were 
expended upon it in vain. At last, the government was abandoned to 
the crown, its institutions were assimilated to those of the other colonies, 
and it then had a steady and prosperous growth. The Methodists and 
Moravians were numerous in Georgia, the two renowned preachers of 
the former denomination, Wesley and Whitefield, residing in it for seve- 
ral years. 

§ 429. It is. apparent from this review, that the English colonies in 
North America, with the exception of Virginia and New York, were 
founded and peopled chiefly by religious exiles. The English Puritans 
were most numerous in New England, the Quakers in New Jer.^cy and 
Pennsylvania, the Roman Catholics in Maryland, Scotch Presbyterians, 
French Huguenots, and Methodists in the south, and German Lutherans 
in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Earnestness, sobriety, an independent 

27 - 



314 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

spirit, and a determined hatred of oppression thus characterized the 
people from the beginning. Whatever emigrants came out solely in 
quest of wealth were soon disabused of their error, and either returned 
to the Old World, or learned to labor and to endure in their new home. 
Property was very evenly distributed, and there were no marked inequa- 
lities of rank or social position. Protected by their feebleness and insig- 
nificance in the outset, and by their distance from the mother country, 
the colonists were, in the main, allowed to enact their own laws, and 
manage their own affairs. Without any marked purpose of deviating 
from the policy, or shaking off the yoke, of England, they were, from the 
commencement, semi-republican and semi-independent. Disciplined by 
privation, exile, and peril, thrown on their own resources, governing 
themselves, their situation developed in them the elements of a thought- 
ful, vigorous, and I'csolute character. After they had overcome the first 
difficulties and obstructions in the way of founding a new home in the 
wilderness, their habits of endurance, industry, and frugality soon gave 
prosperity to their undertakings. Agriculture and commerce flourished, 
and they increased rapidly in population and wealth. They were no 
longer the feeble dependencies of a remote power; they could boast that 
they had laid the foundations of a great empire. 



V. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. THE SPANISH WAR OF SUCCESSION (1702-1714). 

§ 430. When the childless Charles II., the last of the house of Haps- 
burg in Spain, was near his end, he suffered himself, from a feeling of 
irritation towards the European powers who had arranged a partition of 
his lands during his life, to be persuaded by the French ambassadors to 
make a secret will, by which the second grandson of Louis XIV., duke 
Philip of Anjou, was named heir to the whole Spanish monarchy, to the 
exclusion of Austria, which, according to an earlier family compact, had 
the nearest claim upon the vacant throne. Charles II. died 
'at the commencement of the new century, and Louis XIV., 
guided by his council and his second wife, Madame Maintonon, a woman 
of inferior birth, determined, after some hesitation, to adopt the will, 
much as his exhausted kingdom required repose. This resolution was 
followed by the most desperate war that had hitherto taken place. The 
Leopold, emperor Leopold took up arms for the purpose of securing 

A. D. the inheritance of the Hapsburgs for his second son, Charles, 

1687 - 1705. ^^. fQj.QQ^ Q^ the side of Austria were ranged, not only the 



WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 315 

greater part of the princes of Germany, particularly the Elector, Frede- 
rick of Brandenburg, who for this assistance was adorned with the title 
of king of Prussia, and Hanover, for which a ninth Electorate had re- 
cently been made, but the maritime powers, England and Holland ; the 
latter, out of fear of the threatening superiority of France, the former, 
from anger that the French king had recognized the Pretender, James 
(HI.) Stuart, on the death of his father, as king of England. The Elec- 
tor of Bavaria and his brother, the Elector of Cologne, were the only 
princes that sided with France. Spain was divided. The eastern pro- 
vinces, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, were for the Austrian claimant of 
the throne ; Castile, on the other hand, and the rest of the kingdom, took 
up arms to defend the Bourbon king, Philip V., who was descended on 
his mother's side fi'om the Hapsburgs, and whose character bore the im- 
press of Spain. 

§ 431. The reason that the fortune of the war remained this time so 
closely bound to the banners of Austria and England, was, that their 
armies were conducted by the two greatest genei'als of the age, prince 
Eugene of Savoy, and the duke of Marlborough. The former at once 
increased the renown he had already acquired in the w^ar against the 
Turks by a masterly campaign in Italy, where he drove back the gallant 
General Catinat and brought over the duke of Savoy and 
Piedmont to the side of Austria ; while Marlborough, who 
was the chief of the Whigs, (who since Anne's coming to the govern- 
ment had guided the j)olitical helm,) and consequently, endowed with 
almost unlimited power, was distinguished both as a warrior and states- 
man, but stained his glory by avarice and love of gain. The duke 
of Savoy brought the calamities of war upon his own land by his 
alliance with Austria. Vendome, a skilful general, subdued Pied- 
mont and the fertile plains of Lombardy, and thought to unite himself 
with the Elector of Bavaria who had marched into the Tyrol ; but the 
daring rise of the gallant Tyrolese, who, from their inaccessi- 
ble mountain heights and the crevices of their valleys, 
attacked the Bavarians with their ritles, and prevented their advance by 
a well-managed guerilla warfare, prevented this plan. The Elector was 
compelled, after severe loss, to evacuate the Tyrol ; whereupon he joined 
the French army, which had marched through the Ivinzigthal in Swabia, 
under the command of the marshals Villars and Tallard. It was here 
that Eugene, and Louis of Baden, the commander of the imperial forces, 
opposed themselves to the enemy. Marlborough, after a masterly march 
on the Rhine and the Mosel, soon joined the other two, upon which, 
Eugene and Marlborough despatched the old and cautious Louis to the 
siege of Ingoldstadt, and then defeated the French and Bavarian army 
Auonst 13, »t the battle of Ilochstadt, (or, as the English call it, the 
1704. battle of Blenheim). Tallard, and a great part of his force, 



316 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

were made prisoners ; the whole of the munitions of war fell into the 
hands of the enemy. The Elector of Bavaria was obliged to follow the 
French over the Rhine, and expose his teri'itories to the Austrians, who 
exercised the most frightful oppression there ; so that, at length, the peo- 
ple, driven to despair, made an insurrection, which, however, had only 
the effect of increasing the measure of their sufferings. For the purpose 
of chastising the unpati'iotic sentiments of the princely house of Bavaria, 
Joseph I., the new emperor, Joseph I., who trod the same path his 
A. D. father had done, pronounced the ban against Max Emma- 

1705-1711. j^^^gj^ ^^^ j^jg bi-other, the Elector of Cologne. 

§ 432. Fortune was also adverse to the French both in the Nether- 
May 23, lands and in Italy. In the former country, Marlborough 
1700. gained the splendid victory of Ramillies from the incompe- 
tent marshal Villeroi, the favorite of Madame Mainteuon ; upon which, 
the Spanish Netherlands acknowledged the Austrian competitor for the 
September 7, throne : and in Italy, prince Eugene defeated the superior 
i^oo. force of the French at Turin ; whereupon, Milan and Lom- 
bardy, together with Lower Italy and Sicily, fell into the hands of the 
victors. The glory of Eugene spread far and wide, and his name be- 
came henceforth familiar in the mouths of the people, who celebrated his 
deeds in their songs. It was in Spain only that Philip of Anjou main- 
tained himself against the English and Austrian army. It is true, that 
the pi'ovinces of the ancient kingdom of Aragon, out of national hatred 
to Castile, sided, for the most part, with the Austrian claimant of the 
throne, when the latter landed in Catalonia. Barcelona, Valencia, and 
all the cities of importance united themselves to him, whilst 
the English fleet took Gibraltar. Philip V. nevertheless 
maintained his supremacy by the adherence of the Castilians, and visited 
the revolted provinces with a severe chastisement after the victory of 
April 25, Almanza. The beautiful plains of Valencia were ravaged, 

1707. the resolute inhabitants, who were prepared to undergo the 
worst extremities rather than submit themselves to the detested Casti- 
lians, suffered death in all its forms ; and, to avoid the insults of their 
enemies, they even set fire to their own houses, and perished, like the 
citizens of Saguntum and Numantia, beneath the ruins. When at length 
resistance was broken by the capture of Saragossa and Lerida, and the 
heads of the boldest had fallen beneath the axe of the executioner, the 
three provinces of Valencia, Catalonia, and Aragon lost the last remains 
of their rights, and were governed henceforth by the laws of Castile. 
Barcelona, however, maintained a gallant resistance to the end of the 
war. 

§ 433. In the year 1708, the two great generals, Eugene and Marl- 
July 11, borough, increased their military renown by the victory of 

1708. Oudenarde on the Scheldt. At this point, Louis XIV. began 



WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 317 

to despair of the successful termination of the war ; and, taking the ex- 
hausted condition of his kingdom into consideration, he now wished for 
peace. But, by the influence of Eugene and Marlborough, who wished 
to take advantage of their success for the humiliation of France, condi- 
tions of great severity were demanded of him. It was not only required 
that the French king should renounce all pretensions to the collective 
empire of Spain, but that he should surrender Alsace and Strasburg ; 
and, hard as this abasement must have appeared to the proud potentate, 
he would have accepted the conditions, had not his enemies added the 
degrading demand, that Louis should himself assist in driving his own 
grandson out of Spain. This appeared too severe to the French court, 
September 11, ^^^ the war continued. But in the murderous battle of 
1709. Malplaquet, France lost more troops than in any previous 

engagement, and would have been compelled to accept peace under any 
conditions, had not Divine Providence now wished to chastise the inso- 
lence of others, that men might learn moderation. 

§ 434. A quarrel between the proud and ambitious wife of Marl- 
borough and queen Anne, and the intrigues that sprung from it, had 
occasioned the exclusion of the duchess from the court, and the expul- 
sion of tlie Whig ministry by the Tories. The latter, with the cele- 
brated statesman and writer Bolingbroke at their head, now wished for 
the termination of the war, in order that Marlborough, who was at the 
head of the opposite party, might be no longer. indispensable; and with 
this object, entered into negotiations for peace with France, which were 
brought to a more rapid termination by the death of the em- 
peror Joseph I. without male heirs, in the following year, 
Charles VI., and by the succession of his brother, Charles, who was the 
^' ^' intended inheritor of the Spanish monarchy. It could now 

1711-1740. , , ,. '^ ^ , ^ . •' ,,, 

be no longer the mterest ot the foreign powers to add the 
territories of Spain to those of Austria, and thus to establish the supre- 
macy of the house of Hapsburg in Europe. A truce between England 
and Spain, after the conclusion of which Marlborough lost all his offices, 
May 11, and was accused in parliament of embezzlement, was the 

1713- forerunner of the peace of Utrecht. By this, the Spanish 

and American possessions were left to the Bourbon king, Philip V., 
under the condition that the crowns of France and Spain were never to 
be united ; England received Nova Scotia and other possessions in North 
America from France, and Gibraltar, and certain commercial advantages 
from Spain ; the duke of Savoy received the island of Sardinia and the 
title of king. 

The emperor and the German empire did not join in the peace of 

Utrecht, and continued the war for some time longer. But the emperor 

quickly became convinced that he was unequal to conduct the war by 

himself for any lengthened period, and gave his consent to the peace of 

27* 



318 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Rastadt, to which also the German empire acceded at Baden in the 
March 7 Aargau. By this, Austria obtained the Spanish Nether- 

1714. lands, and Milan, Naples, and Sicily, in Italy; the Elect- 

September, ors of Bavaria and Cologne were again restored to their 
■^'^•^*- lands and titles, and the royalty of Prussia generally ac- 

knowledged. 

September 1 § 435. Fkance. Louis XIV. died in the folio-wing year, 
1714. weary of life, and borne down by severe strokes of fate. 

Within two years, he had lost his son, his grandson, and his intellectual 
Louis XV "vv'ife, and his eldest great-grandchild, so that his youngest 
A. D. great-grandchild, then five years of age, succeeded to the 

1715 - 1774. throne, under the title of Louis XV. During his minority, 
Orleans, the government was conducted by Philip duke of Orleans. 

Kegent, a. d. This prince, like his former preceptor, cardinal Dubois, 
whom he raised to the ministry, was a man of intellect and 
talent, but of most profligate morals, who despised religion and virtue, 
and by his dissolute and voluptuous life outraged decency and morality, 
and squandered the revenues of the state. The Mississippi scheme, 
which was established by the Scotchman, Law, and which not only 
promised a high rate of interest, but held out hopes of vast profits in 
America, produced an incredible intoxication of mind throughout all 
France, which the unprincipled regent and his companion well knew how 
to take advantage of. Almost all the gold coin flowed into the bank, 
and was exchanged for paper money, till at length a bankruptcy took 
place, which deprived thousands of their property, whilst the greedy 
magnates Avere enriched by the spoils. 

§ 436. Spain. The Spanish king, Philip V., was a weak prince, who 
was governed by women, and who at length fell entirely into melancholy, 
and surrendered the government of his empire to his ambitious second 
wife, Elizabeth of Parma, and the intriguing Italian, Alberoni. These 
two contrived, by dint of war and intrigue, that Elizabeth's eldest son, 
Charles, should receive the kingdom of Naples and Sicily ; and her 
second son, Philip, the dukedom of Parma, with Piacenza and Guastalla. 
In this way, these states received Bourbon rulers. When Philip V. 
Ferdinand Vl. ^^^^j ^"1^ 0^ trouble, into the grave, he was succeeded by 
A. D. his son, Ferdinand VL, who inherited his father's hypo- 

chondria, and at length sunk into an incurable melancholy, 
which, like that of Saul, could only be relieved by singing and play- 
ing on the harp ; hence the singer Farinelli obtained great influence at 
the court. 

§ 437. England. The free constitution of England obtained such 
George L Stability during the reigns of the kings of the house of Hano- 
A. D. ver, George L, II., and III., that the personal character of 

1714-1727. ^j^g monarch exercised but little influence upon the course of 



SWEDEN AND RUSSIA. 319 

events. The government, whicli was responsible to parliament, had 
George H., more regard to the prosperity of the kingdom and to the 
17''7-1760 greatness of the nation, than to the wishes of the court. It 
Georo-e m. ''^^^ ^'^^' ^^^'^ reason that trade, industry, navigation, and pros- 
A-D. perity received an immense development. Under George I., 

' ~ *-- • -vvho restored the Whigs to his confidence, James (III.) Stu- 
A. D. i(l5-i(. ^j,^ attempted, with the aid of the discontented Tories (Jaco- 
bites), to regain the English throne ; but his undertaking ftiiled, and in- 
volved his adherents in heavy penalties. The same thing took place in a 
second attempt, which was hazarded by James's son, Charles Edward, in 
^^ the reign of George II. Aided by France, he landed in Scot- 
land, where he found numerous adherents among the gal- 
lant Highlanders. His first successes encouraged him to march upon 
^ England. But fortune soon forsook him, and the battle 

of Culloden destroyed the hopes of the Stuarts for ever. 
Charles Edward, upon whose head the English government had set a 
price, was saved, as once Charles II. had been, by the friends and adher- 
ents of his house, in a wonderful and romantic manner. His abettors were 
proceeded against with frightful severity ; there was no end to executions 
and confiscations of property ; the prisons were filled with Jacobites from 
Edinburgh to London. 

2. CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN AND PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA IN 
THE NORTHERN WAR (1700-1718). 

§ 438. Sweden and Russia. At the commencement of the eight- 
eenth century, Sweden stood at the highest point of her power. The 
possessions of the crown had been increased, and the treasury filled, by 
the prudence and frugality of Charles XI. ; the fleet and army were in 
good condition ; the coast lands of the Baltic, with the rich towns of Wis- 
mar, Stralsund, Stettin, Riga, and Reval, and the effluxes of the Weser, 
Oder, Dwina, and Neva, were included in the Swedish territory, the site 
now occupied by St. Petersburg being a swampy hollow on Swedish 
land. In courage and military spirit the Swedes were inferior to none. 
Imperial house But a powerful neighbor had arisen in the East, since the 
A. n_°"^'^°° ' Russians had united and strengthened themselves under the 
1613-1730^ rule of the house of Romanof; and they now began to extend 
their frontiers in every direction. This was especially the case under 
Alexis Alexis Romanof and his two sons, Feodor and Peter. Alexis 

^- D- conquered Smolensk and the Ukraine, compelled the warlike 

and well- mounted Cossacks to acknowledge the supremacy 
of Russia, and encouraged the civilization and industry of the country ; 
Feodor ^"*' ^^ ^'^^ Feodor who established the absolute power of the 

■^- ^- Tzars, by destroying the genealogical registers upon which 

1676-1682. ^^Q noble families founded their pretensions. 



320 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

§ 439. Peter the Great. Peter the Great perfected that which 
Peter the ^^^^ predecessors had commenced. By his extensive travels 
Great, a. d. through the countries of Europe, lie made himself acquainted 
1689-1725. ^yj^j^ ^Yie customs of civilized nations, and with the advan- 
tages of a regular government ; by this means he obtained a love for 
civilization, and directed the whole of his efforts to convert Russia from 
an Asiatic state, which it had hitherto been, into a European one. With 
this object, he encouraged the immigration of foreign artisans, mariners, 
and officers into Russia, without regard to the hatred of foreigners enter- 
tained by his countrymen ; that he might himself be able to share their 
labors, he made himself acquainted with the art of ship-building in Hol- 
land and England, and inspected the workshops of artists and of the art- 
isans of mills, dams, machinery, &c. An insurrection of the Strelitzes, 
produced by the exasperation occasioned by these innovations, was sup- 
pressed, and taken advantage of by the emperor for reforming the affairs 
of the army upon the European model. By the frightful punishments 
inflicted upon the guilty, the hangings, beheadings, and breakings upon 
the wheel, which continued for weeks, and in which the Tzar himself 
took a share, Peter showed that civilization had not penetrated his own 
heart. Despite all his efforts to introduce European refinement into his 
dominions, and despite his European dress, which he commanded to be 
worn by all his subjects, he remained, in manners, in mind, and in his 
mode of governing, a barbarian, devoted to brandy, coarse in his desires, 
and frantic in his wrath. 

§ 440. Poland under Frederick Augustus the Strong. Whilst 

Russia was raising and confirming her power, Poland, by her wild and un- 

governed freedom, was proceeding towards her downfall. After the death 

of the military king, John Sobieski, a furious contest ai'ose 

respecting the election of another sovereign, from which 

Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, a prince distinguished for his 

bodily strength, as well as for gallantry and love of magnificence, at 

length came forth victorious. He was called to the throne 

of Poland, after having gone over to the Roman Catholic 

Church. But the Polish nobility, who alone were in possession of any 

political riglits, whilst the peasants pined in serfdom and the citizens were 

unable to raise themselves from their subordinate position, had already 

so contracted the royal power, that the state had acquired the form of an 

aristocratic republic, in which the elected chief was little more than the 

executor of the resolutions of the Diet. 

§ 441. When Charles XII. ascended the throne, at the age of sixteen 
Charles XH years, the rulers of Russia, Poland, and Denmark thought 
A. D. the time was arrived for depriving Sweden of the lands she 

1697-1718. jj^^i conquered. The Russian Tzar, Peter the Great, wished 
to obtain a firm footing on the shores of the Baltic ; the elective king of 



SWEDEN AND EUSSIA. 321 

Poland, Frederick Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, endeavored 
to get possession of Livonia; and the Danish king, Frederick IV., 
attempted to wrest Schleswic from the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, a bro- 
ther-in-law of Chai'les XII. They accordingly concluded an alliance by 
the mediation of the Livonian, Patkul, after which, Frederick Augustus 
marched with a Saxon army to the frontiers of Livonia, and threatened 
Riga ; whilst the Russians attacked Esthonia and besieged Narva ; and 
the Danish king waged vrar with the duke of Holstein-Gottorp. But to 
the astonishment of Europe, the young king of Sweden, who had hitherto 
been looked upon as obtuse and of weak intellect, suddenly displayed a 
lively and energetic spirit and distinguished military talents. Enraged 
at the unprincipled attempts of his enemies, he rapidly crossed over to the 
island of Zealand with his gallant army, commenced at once 
the siege of Copenhagen, and spread such terror among the 
Danes, that Frederick IV. renounced the alliance against the Swedes, in 
the peace of Travendal, and promised to indemnify the duke of Holstein. 
Hereupon, Charles directed his arms against his other oppo- 
nents. On the 30th of November, with 8,000 Swedes, he 
defeated a force of the Russians of ten times that number, before Narva, 
and captured a number of cannon and a large quantity of ammunition. 
He then marched across Livonia and Courland into Poland, repeatedly 
defeated the united armies of Saxony and Poland, and took one town 
after another. The trembling citizens of "Warsaw surren- 
dered him the keys of their capital, and paid the military 
levies imposed upon them ; Cracow fell into his hands, and the fertile 
plains of the Vistula, with Thorn, Elbing, and Dantzic, were soon in the 
power of the Swedes. Charles now demanded of the Poles that they 
should depose their king, Frederick Augustus, and undertake 

A D 1703. o ' 

'a new election ; and despite the resistance of the nobi- 
lity, the Swedish king, supported by the Polish party spirit, compelled 
the required deposition, and obtained the election of Stanislaus Leczinski, 
voiwode of Posen, a creature of his own, in an elective 

' assembly which was surrounded by Swedish soldiers. 
§ 442. After a few difficult campaigns in the southern provinces of 
Poland, where the Swedish king, despite the boggy soil and the poverty 
of the country, drove back the superior forces of the enemy, Charles de- 
termined upon seeking his opponent, Frederick Augustus, in his own ter- 
ritories. Without asking permission of the emperor, he marched across 
Silesia into Lusatia, and was soon in the heart of Saxony, which, not- 
withstanding the severe military discipline of Charles, was dreadfully 
desolated by the hostile force. The inhabitants of tlie plains fled into the 
towns, the royal family sought refuge in the neighboring state. Augus- 
September 24, tus, for the sake of saving his land, gave his consent to the 
1706. disgraceful peace of Altranstadt, by which he engaged to 



322 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

renounce the crown of Poland for himself and his posterity, to dissolve 
his alliance with the Tzar, and to give up the Livonian, Patkul, to the 
king of Sweden, who put him to a cruel death upon the wheel. Never- 
theless, the hostile army still remained for a whole year in Saxony, to 
the great detriment of the country, which suffered from the extravagance 
of the court of Dresden, as well as by the quartering of troops and mili- 
tary levies. Whilst the Estates consented with sighs to the heavy taxes, 
and the impoverished peasant was almost starving, the Elector gave one 
magnificent court banquet after the other, and squandered enormous 
sums upon his country-seats. What did not the entertainment and sup- 
port of the mistresses and illegitimate children of the gallant prince 
cost! 

Charles XII. was a remarkable contrast to this luxurious and frivolous 
prince. He jjossessed the nature of a perfect soldier; his temperance 
was so great that he refrained from all spirituous liquors, and whilst in 
the field, contented himself with the slender rations of the army ; he 
wore the same plain dress both in summer and winter — a soldier's long 
frock, with brass buttons, and horseman's large boots ; during a march or 
in battle, he subjected himself to the greatest toils, privations, and dan- 
gers ; he avoided the company of Avomen ; the only thing that possessed 
any charms for him was the military life and its dangers ; the noise of 
battle, the whistling of balls, and the neigh of the war-horse were more 
congenial to him than operas, court-banquets, and concerts. 

§ 443. Whilst Charles XII. was lingering in Poland and Saxony, 
Peter the Great was making preparations for subjecting the possessions 
of Sweden on the Baltic, and adding them to his own dominions. He 
built the fortresses of Schulsselburg and Kronstadt, had the swampy 
hollows of the Neva drained by serfs after unspeakable exertions, and 
^ ^ laid the foundation of the new capital city, St. Petersburg. 
Nobles, merchants, artisans and their families, from Moscow 
and other cities, were compelled to settle there, and foreigners were 
encouraged to emigrate thither. Had Charles XII., when he at length 
left Saxony to turn his arms against the last and greatest of his foes, 
chosen the lands of the Baltic for the scene of his military operations, 
Peter's new plans and creations might easily have been destroyed ; but 
fortunately for him, Charles decided to march upon Moscow, and to pene- 
trate info the lieart of the Russian dominions. He captured 
Grodno and Wilno, crossed the Beresina in June, and pur- 
sued his course towards Smolensk. No Russian army opposed the fool- 
hardy king, who, at the head of his gallant forces, waded through streams 
and marched across pathless morasses. But now came the turning point 
in the life of Charles. Instead of waiting for his general, Lowenhaupt, 
who was on his way to join him with fresh troops, and with clothing and 
provisions for the exhausted army, he suffered himself to be persuaded 



SWEDEN AND RUSSIA. 323 

by the old Cossack chief, Mazeppa, to undertake a toilsome march in the 
woody and desert Ukraine. Lowenhaupt, attacked by a superior force 
of Russians, despite his distinguished military talents, was obliged to 
sacrifice the whole of his artillery, his baggage, and his provisions, to 
enable himself, with a small host, to reach the king, who was restlessly 
hastening forward. The autumnal rains were followed by 

A D 1708 — 9 

an unusually severe winter, in the course of which, many 

hardy warrioi-s perished of cold, and the hands and feet of thousands 

became frost-bitten. At length, Charles advanced to the siege of the 

strong city of Pultowa, which, however, was protracted by the want of 

artillery, till Peter himself approached with a vast army. The battle 

of Pultowa, which terminated in the total defeat of the 
July 8, 1709. o T , r. I „ , , 1 .1 

owedish army, was now tought; all the baggage and the 

rich military chest fell into the hands of the enemy, and the surviving 
officers and soldiers were made prisoners. Charles XII., the once proud 
conqueror of three kings, was now a helpless fugitive, who by his utmost 
exertions barely succeeded in saving himself, with about 2,000 followers, 
in a foodless and shelterless desert in the dominions of Turkey. Lowen- 
haupt collected the remainder of the fugitives, but as retreat was im- 
possible from the want of provisions and artillery, he was obliged to 
surrender himself with 16,000 men. Not one of these brave warriors 
ever revisited his home ; they were dispersed over the vast empire, and 
some died in the mines of Siberia, others as beggars on the highways. 
Thus perished this heroic band, as admirable in their endurance as in 
their triumphs. 

§ 444. Charles XII. was honorably received and generously treated 
by the Turks. In his camp before Bender, he lived in royal 
fashion as the guest of the sultan. But the thought of 
returning as a vanquished man, without an army, to his kingdom, was 
unendurable to his haughty soul. He wished to persuade the Turks to 
a war with Russia, and then to march at their head through the terri- 
tories of his enemy. Whilst he was wasting his time and energies at 
Bender in furtherance of this project, and employing every means to 
gain over the Turks to his plans, his three opponents renewed their 
former alliance ; upon which, Frederick Augustus again made himself 
master of the throne of Poland, the Tzar Peter extended his conquests to 
the Baltic, and the king of Denmark again took possession of Schleswic. 
Prussia and Hanover, also, soon united themselves, and seized upon the 
Swedish possessions in Germany. At length, the plans of Charles 
seemed about to succeed. A Turkish army marched into Moldavia, and 

reduced the Tzar to so critical a position on the Pruth, that 
A. D. 1711. , 1 , • , 1 n 1 • 

lie and his whole army were in great danger oi becoming 

prisoners of war. But Peter's wife, Catherine, who, from a slave of the 

Russian minister, Menzikoff, had become empress of all the Russias, 



324 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

found means to corrupt the Turkish army, and to bring about the con- 
clusion of a peace. Charles XII. foamed with rage at finding the end 
he thought so near now farther removed than ever. He however still 
adhered to his purpose, and even remained at Bender after the Porte 
had withdrawn its hospitality, discontinued the supplies of money it had 
hitherto furnished, and commanded him to quit the Turkish territory. 
He allowed the Porte to supply money for his journey, and nevertheless 
remained. At length the janisaries stormed his camp, set fire to the 
house in which he defended himself like a lion, and took him prisoner as 
he made a furious sally. But he still remained ten months longer in 
captivity in Turkey, and wasted his strength in childish obstinacy. Was 
it to be wondered that people at length began to look upon him as 
derano'ed? It was not until news was brought him that his possessions 
in Germany, as far as Stralsund, were in the hands of the enemy, that 
he suddenly quitted Turkey, after a residence of five years, and arrived 
October unexpectedly before the gates of Stralsund, after a journey 

1711. of fourteen days, performed on horseback without the slight- 

est interruption. 

§ 445. Stralsund was defended, by dint of the greatest exertions, for 
December upwai'ds of a year by the brave Swedes ; at length, the city 
1715. was compelled to yield, whereupon Pomerania, with the 

island of Rugen, fell into the hands of the Prussians. But still the 
obstinate king would not listen to a peace. By the advice of the intrigu- 
ing Baron von Gorz, he caused paper money to be prepared to defray 
the expenses of his new preparations for war, and without 
awaiting the result of the negotiations that Gorz had entei'ed 
into with the Russian emperor, he fell upon Norway with two divisions 
of his army, for the purpose of chastising the king of Denmark for his 
breach of the peace. It was here that Charles met with his death before 
the fortress of Fried richshall, which he Avas besieging in the midst of 
winter. As he was leaning at night upon a breastwork, inspecting the 
operations in the trenches, he was killed by a bullet, which came, appa- 
rently, from the hand of an assassin. The Swedish nobility now assumed 
December 11 all the power to themselves, excluded the rightful heir to 
1718. the throne (Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp) from the govern- 

ment, and presented it, under great restrictions, to Charles's younger 
sister, Ulrica Eleonora, and her husband, Frederick of Hesse-Cassel. 
From this time forth, Sweden was a monarchy in nothing but name ; the 
power was all in the hands of a senate of nobles. The barbarous execu- 
tion of the count Gorz, and the hasty conclusion of a succes- 

A. D. 1719. 

sion of treaties of peace, by which Sweden, in return for an 
indemnification in money, gave up all her foreign posses- 
sions, with the exception of a small portion of Pomerania, 
was the commencement of the government of a selfish aristocracy, who 
cared nothing for the honor or well-being of the country. 



SWEDEN AND RUSSIA. 325 

§ 446. "Whilst Sweden, broken and exhausted, was thus escaping from 
the contest, Russia was rising into European importance. The acquisi- 
tion of the Swedish provinces of Ingria, Esthonia, and Livonia, to which 
Courland was also added a few decades later, was the commencement of 
a new epoch for Russia. As long as Moscow had remained the capital 
city, the views of the Tzars had been directed towards Asia, to the 
inhabitants and customs of Avhich the Russians were more assimilated 
than to those of Europe ; but since Petersburg, which lay nearer to the 
civilizatioli of the west, had become the seat of the government, and risen 
into importance by the magnificence of its plan and of its buildings, 
Russia had become a European empii-e. 

The restless activity of the great emperor produced a total revolution. 
Trade and navigation were encouraged by the formation of roads, canals, 
and harbors ; internal industry, trades, manufactories, and mining met 
with special encouragement; and even learning and a higher grade of 
refinement were provided for by the foundation of an academy of 
sciences. The government and police were also remodelled upon the 
pattern of other free states, so that the power of the emperor was in- 
ci'eased and that of the nobles (Boyards) diminished. One of the inno- 
vations of Peter the Great, which was followed by the most important 
consequences, was the abolition of the dignity of Patriarch, and the 
creation of the sacred synod as the chief ecclesiastical court, to which the 
emperor communicated his orders. 

§ 447. Whilst Peter was thus reforming his kingdom, he saw, with 
grief, that his only son, Alexis, w^as disinclined to the alterations, restrict- 
ed his intercourse entirely to the friends of the old system, and cherished 
the intention of again removing his residence to Moscow. It was in vain 
that the emperor attempted to bend the stubborn and defiant spirit of his 
son, and to make him a friend to European civilization ; Alexis retained 
his opinions, and at length disaj^peared from the kingdom. Upon this, 
Peter, anxious for the permanence of his institutions, ordered his son to 
be arrested, brought home as a prisoner, and condemned to 
death. Whether Alexis was put to death, or whether he 
died before the execution of the sentence, is disputed. An ukase declared 
the appointment of a successor to the throne to be dependent upon the 
Catherine I. ^^'^^^ ^^ ^^^® reigning emperor. After Peter's death, his wife, 
A. n. Catherine I., succeeded him in the government. Under her 

1725-1727. and her successor, Peter II., Menzikoff, who had risen from 
Peter 11., the lowest condition to be the favorite of the emperor and an 
A. D. all-powerful minister, exercised the greatest influence upon 

1727 -l/oO. ^Yie government. But he was overthrown at the moment 
Anna, when he imagined that he was about to marry his daughter 

A- °- to the young emperor, and ended his days in exile in Siberia. 

Anna, the successor of Peter II., reposed her confidence in 
28 



326 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

two energetic Germans, Ostermann and Miinnich, of whom the former was 
at the head of the cabinet, the latter conducted and arranged the affairs 
of the army. But these, as well as Anna's favorite, Biron, who was to 
Lave managed the government after her death, were banished to Siberia, 
B"<» b tl when Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Peter the Great, 
A. D. was raised to the throne by a revolution in the palace. Ivan, 

1741-1762. a child one year old, whom Anna had named her successor, 
was thrown into prison, where he grew up like a brute without the slight- 
est education. Elizabeth gave herself up to a voluptuous and profligate 
life, and relinquished the government to her favorites. 

§ 448. Under Frederick Augustus II., the love of magnificence, the 
luxury and debauchery, that prevailed in Dresden, penetrated into Po- 
land, and destroyed the remaining moral power of the nobles. New 
vices were associated to the old ones, and proved the more pernicious, 
inasmuch as the Polish nobility possessed merely the outward polish of 
European civilization, and that inward barbarism and sensual excitability 
were united with refinement. Fi'ivolity, arrogance, and religious intole- 
rance were now more prevalent in Poland than ever. The Jesuits suc- 
ceeded in depriving the Polish Dissidents of their civil and 

A. D I7l7 1 o 

religious privileges by an extraordinary Diet, and when the 
general hatred broke forth in a popular insurrection in the Protestant 
town of Thorn against the Jesuitical colleges, the burgomaster was put 
to death and the town sevei'ely punished. After the death of Frederick 

Augustus II. arose the Polish war of succession. Stanislaus 

A T) 1733 

Leczinski (who, flying from Poland after the battle of Pul- 
towa, had wandered in poverty about Alsacia, till he was delivered from 
want by the marriage of his daughter with Louis XV.) again made 
claims to the crown, and, trusting to aid from France, travelled in dis- 
guise to Warsaw. But Russia and Austria supported the claim of 
F d ■ k Frederick Augustus III. of Saxony. Stanislaus, although 
Augustus, acknowledged by the majority of the Polish nation, was 
A. r>. obliged to yield the field to his opponent when the Russian 

1733-1763. f^rmy^ under the conduct of Miinnich, marched into Poland. 
He fled in the dress of a peasant to Konigsburg, and from thence to 
France. After some time, however, a peace was concluded 
Avhich was extremely favorable both to France and Stanis- 
laus. When the house of Medici was nearly extinct in 
Florence, the emperor Charles VI. wished his son-in-law, 
Francis Stephen, to exchange his hereditary dukedom of Lorraine for 
Tuscany, so that the former might devolve upon Stanislaus, and, after 
his death, upon France. Charles VI. made this sacrifice to secure the 
accession of the French king to the Pragmatic Sanction. Stanislaus 
Leczinski lived for twenty-nine years after this in Nancy, a bene- 
factor of the poor, and a patron of the arts and sciences. But Poland, 



RISE OF PRUSSIA. 327 

under the government of the weak and indolent Frederick Augustus 
III., was approaching every day nearer to its dissolution. 

3. RISE OF PRUSSIA. 

Frederick ^ ^^^' Frederick Wilham, the great Elector of Branden- 

William, burg, enlarged his territories on the east and west by suc- 

A. D. cessful wars, and secured the lofty position of his state by 

1640 - 1688. ^i^g formation of a considerable army ; he, at the same time, 
encouraged the internal prosperity and civilization of his dominions, by 
giving efficient aid to industry and the arts of peace, and by favoring im- 
migration from civilized foreign countries, especially that of the French 
Huguenots, into his own states. After this energetic and sagacious 
Frederick III V™^^i ^^^^ splendor-loving son succeeded. Elector Frederick 
as king. HI., to whom the outward magnificence with which Louis 

Frederick I., XIV. had surrounded the court of Versailles appeai'ed the 
A. D. greatest triumph of earthly majesty. He accordingly attach- 

~ ed the highest importance to a splendid court and magnifi- 

cent feasts. He looked with envy upon the Electors of Hanover and 
Saxony, who had obtained that, which, in his eyes, was the most inesti- 
mable of possessions — a royal crown, the former in England, the latter 
in Poland; and great was his joy when the emperor Leopold showed 
himself disposed to confer upon him the title of king of Prussia, in return 
for his assurances of vigoi'ous support in the war of the Spa- 
nish succession. After a solemn coronation in Konigsburg, in 
which the Elector placed the crown upon his own head and upon that of 
his wife, and after a succession of splendid banquets, the new king, Fre- 
derick L, held a magnificent entry into Berlin, which he attempted to 
render a suitable residence for royalty, by public buildings, pleasure 
grounds, and monuments of art. The arts and sciences were encouraged. 
In the country seat of Charlottenberg, where the highly accomplished 
queen Sophia Charlotte held her gracious rule, there was always an 
assembl^ige of distinguished and intellectual people. Societies for the 
cultivation of the arts and sciences were established in Bei'lin, under the 
auspices of the great philosopher Leibnitz ; a flourishing university arose 
in Halle, distinguished by a noble freedom of spirit, and became the 
scene of the labors of such men as Christopher Thomasius, the powerful 
advocate of reason, and of the German language and mode of thinking, 
the pious Hermann Franke, the founder of the orphan asylum, that 
" trophy of trust in God and love to men," and the philosopher, Christo- 
pher Wolf. 

§ 450. This expenditure, combined with the support of a considerable 
army in the service of the emperor, pressed hard upon the impoverished 
land; the citizen and peasant class were oppressed with heavy taxes ; 
the new splendor of the royal house appeared to be full of evil for the 



328 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

country ; fortunately, the extra vafj;ant Frederick I. was succeeded by the 
,, , . , fruo;al Frederick William I., who was in every thing the 

iTCClcnck -^ rni • 1 1 1 r ■ 

Willumi I., opposite of his predecessor. The jewels and costly lurniture 
A- »• that had been collected by the father were sold by the son, 

1713-1740. ^^,|^Q ^j^jj ^j^g king's debts with the proceeds; every thing in 
the shape of luxury was banished from the court, the attendants were 
reduced to those that were absolutely necessary, and every superfluous 
exi)ense avoided. The king and his court lived like citizens, the meals 
consisted of household fare, and the queen and her daughter were obliged 
to occupy themselves in domestic duties. The clothing and furniture 
were simple. The smoking-club, in which Frederick William and his 
"good friends " practised coarse jests at the expense of the simi)le or 
good-natured, and where every one was obliged to have a pipe in his 
mouth, usurped the place of the intellectual circle with which Frederick 
I. and his wife had surrounded themselves ; the opera-singers and actors 
were discharged ; French hemix esprtts, as well as teachers of languages 
and dancing, were banished; poets, artists, and men of learning were 
deprived of their pensions in part, or entirely ; Wolf, whose philosophy 
was oilensive to the orthodox and pious, received notice to quit Halle 
within twenty-four hours, " under penalty of the rope." But oHensive as 
this severity and coarseness on the part of the king might be, as well as 
his contempt for all cultivation, learning, and refinement, it must be con- 
fessed that his powerful nature, his sound judgment, and his sparing 
housekeeping gave strength and firmness to the young state. He relieved 
the peasants for the purpose of raising agriculture ; he encouraged in- 
ternal industry, and forbade the importation of foreign manufactures ; 
he settled the Protestants, who had been driven from their houses by the 
bishop of Salzburg, in his own dominions ; and although his severity was 
occasionally exercised at the expense of personal freedom, it also com- 
pelled judges and officials to an efficient performance of their, duties. 
The king's own example affords a proof of how much may be efiected by 
frugality and good management ; for although he spent enormous sums 
npon his Potsdam guards, for which he had " tall fellows " enlisted or 
kidnapped from all the countries of Europe, and although he called many 
useful institutions into existence, he left, at his death, a sum of money 
amounting to 8,000,000 thalers, a great treasure in silver })late, a regu- 
lated revenue, and a large and admirably organized and disciplined 

army. 

§ 451. His great son, Frederick II. pursued a, different path; whilst 
Bora jMuiaiy 1"S father was engaged in his wild hunting parties, or pursu- 
24, 1712. ing his coarse amusements with his companions, the talented 

and intellectual prince was busied with the writers of France, and with 
his flute, which he passionately loved. The difference of their disposi- 
tions rendered them strangets to each other. Frederick was offended 



FREDERICK II. MARIA THERESA. 329 

by his father's harshness, and the hitter was angry with his son for pur- 
suing a different course, and would willingly have forced him from it by 
severity. This coldness and aversion increased with years ; so that 
Frederick, when his father, out of caprice, refused to sanction his intended 
marriage with an English princess, embraced the resolution with a few 
^ young friends of flying to England. An intercepted letter 

A. D. 1(30. /• II 1 • 1 ) 1 • /. 1 t T tr- 

ot i'redericks to his conndunt, the lieutenant von Katte, 

revealed the secret. The king foamed with rage. He commanded the 

crown prince to be confined in a fortress, and Katte to be executed before 

the windows ; all those who were suspected of being implicated were 

severely punished by the irritated monarch. It was not until Frederick 

had penitently implored his father's pardon, that he was released from 

the fortress, and had his sword and uniform restored to him. Shortly 

after this, followed the marriage of Frederick Avith a daughter 
A. D. 1734. . 

of the princely house of Brunswick-Bevern. But his spirit 

found little pleasure in the narrow bounds of domestic life ; he seldom 
visited his wife, especially after his father had relinquished the little 
town of Rheinsberg to him, where, from this time, he led a cheerful life 
amidst a circle of intellectual, accomplished, and free-thinking friends, 
in which wit, jest, and lively conversation alternated with grave and 
diversified studies. lie read the works of the ancients in French trans- 
lations, and derived from them a noble ambition of emulating the heroes 
of Greece and Rome in their mighty deeds and their mental cultivation ; 
he admired French literature, and conceived such a veneration for Vol- 
taire, that he addressed the most flattering letters to him, and, at a later 
period, summoned him to his presence. They were both, however, sooa 
convinced that no personal intercourse could long endure between men 
of such similarly sarcastic natures, and separated from each other in 
anger ; but they still kept up a correspondence in writing. Frederick 
displayed his free way of thinking by receiving a number of French 
authors, who had been banished from France on account of the hostiUty 
of their writings to the Church ; and, after his ascension of the tlirone, 

.>..,. proved the liberality of his views in regard to relijirion, by 
A. D. 1740. n o } J 

recalling Wolf to Halle, with the well-known expression, 
" that, in his kingdom, every man might be happy in his own way." 



4. THE TIMES OF FREDERICK II. AND MARIA THERESA, 
a. THE AUSTRIAN WAR OP SUCCESSION (A. D. 1740 — 1748). 

§ 452. The emperor Charles VI., a good-natured but in no ways dis- 
tinguished prince, died shortly after the accession of Frederick II., 
September 18, having, however, concluded the disgraceful peace of Bel- 
1739. grade wich the Turks previous to his death. As he had 

28* 



330 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

no male heirs, it had been his anxious care through his whole reign, to 
secure the succession of his only daughter, Maria Theresa, wife of 
Francis Stephen of Lorraine, to the hereditary states of Austria. With 
this object, he purchased, by great sacrifices, the acknowledgment from 
all the courts of the domestic law known as the Pragmatic Sanction, by 
virtue of which, the Austrian hereditary lands remained undivided, and, 
in the event of the male line becoming extinct, descended upon the 
female branch. Scarcely had the emperor closed his eyes, before Charles 
Albert, Elector of Bavaria, who was descended from the eldest daughter 
of the emperor Ferdinand I., made claims upon the Austrian patrimo- 
nial states, not only in right of his descent, but upon some pretended 
testamentary intentions of the emperor. Charles Albert, who was a 
weak, narrow-minded man, devoted to superstition and ostentation, 
would not have been in a position to make his claims valid by the 
resources of his exhausted land, had not the French court, despite its 
acknowledgment of the Pragmatic Sanction, supported him with money 
and troops, in the hope of thereby rendering the empei'or and the Ger- 
man nation dependent upon France. In the treaty of Nymphenberg, 
the Bavarian Elector sold himself to France, as his predecessor, Charles 
Emmanuel, had done before, for gold for his vanity, and troops for 
the acquisition of the throne. Frederick II. of Prussia, also, was not 
willing to let slip the favorable opportunity of urging the established 
pretensions of his family to the inhei'itance of the Silesian principalities 
of Jagendorf, Leignitz, Brieg, and Wohlau ; and accordingly supported 
the Bavarian Elector in his claims upon Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, 
and in his .suit for the imperial crown. Saxony, also, would not I'elin- 
quish her share of the expected booty ; the indolent and stupid Augus- 
tus III., who left his government entirely in the hands of the extravagant 
and unprincipled count Briihl, raised claims to Moravia, and brought 
inexpressible misery upon his wretched and heavily oppressed country 
by his participation in the war. 
October 10, § 453. A few weeks after the death of Charles VI., Fre- 

1740. derick II. marched with his admirable army into Silesia. 
The king himself accompanied his troops, more for the sake of learning 
the art of war, and of exciting the courage of the soldiers by his pre- 
sence, than with any purpose of assuming the chief command, which he 

rather relinquished to the two experienced generals, Schwe- 
1740-1742. rin and Leopold of Dessau. This first Silesian war soon 
April 10, showed that a fresh spirit had come over the Prussians. 

1741. After their victory in the battle of Molwitz, they took pos- 
session of the greater part of Upper and Lower Silesia. 

The French army, under Belleisle, shortly after marched into Ger- 
many, and being supported by Bavaria and Saxony, made themselves 
masters of the territories of Upper Austria and Bohemia. Charles 



FREDERICK II. MARIA THERESA. 331 

October Albert received homage as archduke in Linz, and was in- 

1741. vested with the royal crown of Bohemia at Prague, in the 
midst of magnificent coronation banquets. He now stood at the summit 
Ch 1 vn ^^ ^'^ happiness. The election of emperor had terminated in 
A. D. his favor, and he was already making preparations for a 
l(4i-i(4o. splendid coronation in Frankfort. 

§ 454. In this distress, Maria Theresa turned towards the Hungarians. 
At a Diet in Presburg (where, according to a widely-circulated legend, 
she is said to have appeared with her young son, Joseph, in her arms), 
she excited such an enthusiasm among the magnates by the description 
of her distresses, and by gracious promises, that they rose up with an 
unanimous shout of " Vivat Maria Theresa Eex," and called their war- 
like countrymen to arms. The Tyrolese, also, in a similar manner, 
announced their ancient truthfulness to Austria. A gallant force soon 
marched into the field from the lowlands of Hungary. The warlike 
tribes of the Theiss and the Marosch, the wild bands of the Croats, 
Slaves, and Pandours, under the conduct of Khevenhuller and Barenklau 
(Pereklo), marched into Austria, drove back the Bavai'ian and French 
troops with little difficulty, and pressed forward, plundering and ravag- 
ing, into Bavaria. At the very moment at which Charles Albert, by 
French assistance, and in the midst of splendid banquets, was invested 
January 24, "^ith the much-coveted imperial crown, the enemy entered 

1742. his capital, Munich, occupied Landshut, and foraged the 
country as far as the Lech with their wild horsemen. Deprived of his 
hereditary possessions, the new emperor, Charles VII., was soon reduced 
to such extremities, that he could only support himself by the assistance 
of France. 

§ 455. At the same time, an Austrian army marched into Bohemia to 
drive the French out of this country also ; and Maria Theresa, to deprive 
them of the assistance of the Prussians, consented, though with a heavy 
^ ^ heart, to the peace of Breslau, by which almost the whole of 
Upper and Lower Silesia was surrendered to Frederick. In 
a short time, the greater portion of Bohemia was again in the hands of 
the Austrians ; the capital, where Belleisle lay with a considerable army, 
was already besieged. At this juncture, Belleisle, by his daring retreat 
from Prague to Eger, in the midst of winter, showed that the military 
spirit of the French was not yet extinguished. The road was indeed 
strewed with dead or torpid bodies, and even those who escaped bore the 
seeds of death within them. 

In the following spring, Maria Theresa was crowned in 

' " Prague, and at the same time acquired a powerful confede- 

^ ^ rate in George II. of Hanover and England. After the 

' ' battle of Dettingen (near Aschaffenburg), where the English 

and Austrian troops bore off the victory, the French retreated over the 



332 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Rhine, and Saxony embraced the cause of Austria, and received subsi- 
dies from England. 

§ 45 G. The success of tlie Austrians rendered Frederick II. anxious 
for the possession of Silesia, and he therefore commenced a second Sile- 
^. D. sian war against Maria Theresa. Whilst he was hastily 

1744-1745. advancing upon Bohemia, as a confederate of the emperor, 
with a strong army of imperial auxiliaries, Charles VII. found an oppor- 
tunity of regaining his hereditary territory of Bavaria, and of returning 
January 20, to his capital, Munich, where, however, he shortly after died. 
1745. piis son, Maximilian Joseph, renounced all claim to the Aus- 

April. trian heritage in the treaty of Fussen, and at the election of 

emperor, gave his voice for the husband of Maria Theresa, whereupon 
the latter was crowned in Frankfort as Francis I. In the mean while, 
Frederick II. had lost the greater part of Silesia to the brave Austrian 
field-marshal, Traun ; but the splendid victory of Hohenfreid- 
berg again restored him the superiority. The military re- 
nown of the Prussian monarch, and of his generals, Zeithen, Winterfeld, 
and others, had spread far and wide, and prince Ferdinand of Brunswick 
gave the first proof of his talents as a general at Sorr. When the old 
Dessauer conquered the Saxons in the midst of winter, in the bloody 
field of Kesselsdorf, and Frederick marched into the capital of Dresden, 
December 25, -which had been deserted by Augustus III., Maria Theresa, 
in the peace of Dresden, again consented to the cession of 
irancis 1., gilesia ; and Frederick, in return, acknowledged her hus- 
1745-1765. band as emperor. 

§ 457. The war, which was ended in Germany, continued for some time 
longer in the Netherlands. It was here that the French, under the con- 
duct of the talented and brave, but immoral and dissolute, marshal Saxe, 
A. D. a natural son of Frederick Augustus II., gained a succession 

1745-1747. of splendid victories in the battles of Fontenoy, Raucoux, 
and Laffeld, by which the Austrian Netherlands fell almost entirely into' 
October their power. But as the exhausted slates were all longing 

18-20, 1748. for a cessation of hostilities, the peace of Aix Avas at length 
arranged, by which the Austrian hereditary territories were awarded to 
Maria Theresa, with the exception of Silesia, which remained with Prus- 
sia, and a few possessions in Italy, which she gave up to Sardinia and to 
the Spanish-Boui-bon prince, Philip. The other states resumed their 
former relations, and France gained nothing by this expensive war but 
military renown. 

h. THE SEVEN XEARS' "WAR (a. D, 1756-1763). 

§ 458. Maria Theresa could not forget the loss of Silesia. She there- 
fore took advantage of the eight years of peace that followed the conclusion 
of the Austrian war of succession, to form alliances that produced impor- 



THE SEVEN YEAES' WAR. 333 

tant consequences. Russia's dissolute empress, Elizabeth, offended by 
the sarcasms of Frederick, was easily induced by her minister, Bestu- 
cheff, to enter into a confederation with Maria Theresa ; as was also 
Augustus III. of Saxony, by count Bruhl, who likewise felt himself 
injured by the scorn with which the great king always spoke of him. But 
it was a master-stroke of crafty policy that Maria Theresa, by her shrewd 
and dexterous minister, Kaunitz, induced the court of Versailles to re- 
nounce the ancient policy of France, which had always been directed to 
■weakening the house of Hapsburg, and to unite itself with Austria 
against Prussia. For many years past, Louis XV. had allowed himself 
to be led into a profligate course of life by the pleasure-seeking and dis- 
solute nobles. In the society of his licentious favorites and shameless 
mistresses, he gave himself up entirely to his sensual nature, and plunged 
from one pleasure into another. In the excesses of the table, and the 
joys of the chase and the bottle, he forgot his kingdom and the welfare 
of his people. Maria Theresa made use of these circumstances for her 
own advantage. The proud empress, who stood upon her morality and 
virtue, descended so far as to write a flattering letter to Louis's all-pow- 
' erful mistress, madame Pompadour, for the purpose of winning her over 
to her interest. An alliance was accordingly entered into, by means of 
the Pompadour and her creatures, by France and Austria, the object of 
which was to deprive the king of Prussia of his conquests, and to re- 
September, duce him again to the condition of an Elector of Branden- 
1751. burg. 

§ 459. Frederick, who received accurate information of all the plots 
laid against him from a secretary of Briihl's, whom he had 

A. D. 1756. -, -, X • 1 X .• • : r-- • r, 

corrupted, determnied to anticipate his enemies by an unex- 
pected attack. He fell suddenly upon Saxony, took possession of Leip- 
sic, Wittenberg, and Dresden, which had been deserted by the court, and 
established the Prussian form of government. The taxes and all the 
public rents were seized, the magazines thrown open to the Prussian 
array, and the arms and artillery sent to Magdeburg. For the purpose 
of justifying these proceedings, he published the documents which he had 
discovered in Dresden, and which contained the plans of his opponents. 
The Saxon troops, who had taken up a strong position at Pirna, on the 
Elbe, were blockaded by the Prussians, and compelled by hunger to sur- 
render. 14,000 gallant warriors were made prisoners. Frederick com- 
pelled them to enter the Prussian service ; but they tied in troops at the 
first opportunity into Poland, where the Saxon court remained during 
the whole war. Frederick lingered in Dresden, and exacted heavy con- 
tributions in money and recruits from the conquered country, for which, 
war was declared against him by the German empire, for breach of the 
Land-peace ; and the aristocratic government of Sweden, which only 
acted according to the instigations of France, also joined the enemies of 



334 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Prussia. It was only England and a few German states (Hanover, Bruns- 
wick, Hesse-Cassel, Gotha) that adhered to the cause of Frederick. 
§ 4G0. In the spring of the following year, Frederick marched with 

his chief force towards Bohemia, whilst his allies advanced 
A. D. 1757. 

against the French, who were between the Rhine and the 

Weser. By the gallant eiforts of his troops, and by the heroic courage 

May 6 1757 ^^^ heroic death of Schwerin, Frederick won the splendid 

but dearly bought victory of Prague. But no later than the 

^"^ ■ following month, the defeat at Collin, by the brave Austrian 

iield-marshal Daun, deprived the Prussian king of all his advantages. 

His melancholy, both before and after the day of Collin, gave evidence of 

the weight of care by which he was oppressed. A short time after, the 

French also gained a victory over Frederick's allies at Ilast- 

enbeck, on the Weser, and prepared to take up their winter 
quarters in Saxony along with the German imperial army. The prince 
of Soubise, a favorite of madame Pompadour, and a confidential associate 
in the orgies of Louis XV., was already on the Saale with a large army, 

when Frederick made an unexpected attack, and in the battle 

xSOVGITluGr 5. 

of Rosbach, gained a most splendid victory. The imperial 
army fled so hastily at the very commencement of the battle, that it re- 
received the name of the Runaway Army from the jests of the witty ; 
the French soon followed, abandoning their baggage, which was rich in 
articles of luxury and fashion. Seydlitz, the leader of the cavalry, had 

„ particularly distinguished himself. A month later, the Prus- 

DcccmbGr 5 

sian king also Avon a famous victory from Daun, in the battle 

of Beuthen, and again occupied Silesia. But in the mean time, the mis- 
eries of war pressed heavily upon poor Germany ; Hanover, BrunsAvick, 
and Hesse-Cassel, in particular, were harshly treated by the extravagant 
and dissolute duke of Richelieu, by exactions and military levies. 

§ 461. Since the battle of Rosbach, Frederick had been 

no less the idol of the people in England, than in France 
and Germany. The English ministry, in which the elder Pitt (Lord 
Chatham) possessed the greatest influence, accordingly determined to 
support the king of Prussia more liberally with troops and money ; and 
to leave the appointment of generals in his hands. He named the cir- 
cumspect Ferdinand of Brunswick the leader of the allied force, who 

drove back the French over the Rhine in the commencement 
'of the spring, and secured the north of Germany against 
their predatory inroads. In the mean while, the Russians, under Bestu- 
chefi", had penetrated as far as the Oder ; but as this general behaved 
in a very ambiguous manner dui-ing a dangerous illness of the empress 
Elizabeth, he was banished, and Fermor appointed in his stead. The 
latter occupied East Prussia, compelled Konigsburg to do homage, and 
advanced Avith his wild hordes, ravaging and plundering, into Branden- 



THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 335 

burg. Hereupon, Frederick executed a masterly march upon the Oder, 

and, in the bloody battle of Zorndoflf, gained a victory that 

" was certainly dearly purchased. After this, Frederick wished 

to march into Saxony to the assistance of his brother Henry ; but being 

surprised in an unfavorable position by the superior force of Daun, he 

lost the whole of his artillery and many brave soldiers in the attack at 

Hochkirk. He nevertheless effected a juncture with Henry 

by a dexterous march, and again drove the enemy out of 

Silesia and Saxony. 

§ 462. Frederick's means of continuing the war began to 

\ D. 1759. . 

dwindle. Whilst he was with difficulty filling up the gaps in 
his ranks by oppressive levies of young and inexperienced recruits, and 
could only supply his want of money and necessaries by severe war- 
taxes and imposts, Maria Theresa was constantly receiving fresh supplies 
of money and men from France and Russia. 

For the purpose of preventing the union of the Russians and Austrians, 
Frederick advanced to the Oder, but was so completely defeated by the 
August 12, Austrians under their skilful general, Laudon, in the bloody 
1759. engagement of Kunersdorf, after he had already victoriously 

repulsed the Russians, that he began to despair of a successful termination 
of the war. Dresden and the greater part of Saxony was lost to the 
Prussians. But the want of union between the Russians and Austrians 
prevented the proper advantage being taken of the victory. In the mean 
time, the allies of Frederick, under Ferdinand of Brunswick, had been 
more successfully engaged against the French. It is true, that Broglio 
April 13, liad obtained the advantage in the battle of Bergen at Frank- 

1759. fort-on-the-Main, but Ferdinand's victory at Minden drove 

back the French over the Rhine, and saved Westphalia and Hanover. 

§ 4G3. The war had already so weakened the Prussian 

A. D. 1760. , , 1 . , , 1 . , 

army, that the king, contrary to his usual custom, was com- 
pelled to remain on the defensive. It is true that Frederick's name, and 
the dexterity of his recruiting officers, brought troops of soldiers from all 
quarters to the Prussian standard ; but even Frederick's military talents 
could not entirely replace the loss of expert officers and veteran troops. 
To defray the expenses of the Avar, he was obliged to have recourse to 
the most oppressive taxes and to a debased coinage. Whilst Frederick 
was in Saxony, the brave Fouquet, the friend of the king, suffered a de- 
feat in Silesia, in consequence of which the Austrians took possession of 
the whole country. Upon this, Frederick relinquished Saxony, that he 
might again conquer Silesia. He gained this object by the vic- 
tory over Laudon at Leignitz on the Katzbach ; but he was unable 
to prevent the Austrian and Russian troops from breaking into Prussia, 
taking possession of Berlin, and visiting the hereditary lands of the king 
with plunder and desolation. Daun now occupied a strong position on an 



August 15. ■" ° 



336 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

eminence near the Elbe, for the purpose of wintering in Saxony. To 

prevent this, Frederick hazarded a desperate attack upon Daun's camp, 

though his brave soldiers fell in crowds before the artillery. By the 

dearly bought victory of Torgau, which was gained by the 
November 3. . ,. ra- i .1 -n • i • • -10 

assistance of Ziethen, the Prussian king again regained bax- 

ony, and could make his Avinter quarters in Leipsic ; btit 14,000 of his 
soldiers required no shelter; Daun's camp had been their burial place. 

§464 (1761-1763.) In the year 1761, it appeared that Frederick 
must succumb before the disasters that were pouring in upon him on all 
sides ; for not only had his numerous enemies taken possession of a great 
part of his lands, but England, after the accession of George III., had 
refused all farther assistance. Frederick indeed resisted Avith vigor the 
enemies that were pressing upon him ; but his melancholy and despon- 
dency are betrayed in his letters to his friends, and in his poetry. It ap- 
peared that Silesia must fall to Austria, and Prussia to llussia. But in 
the very extremity of Frederick's distress, the empress Elizabeth died, 
January 5, and her nephew, who was a great venerator of the Prussian 

1762. king, ascended the throne of Russia. This change produced 
a sudden alteration in the state of affairs. Peter, a good-natured but in- 
considerate prince, wdio acted over hastily, at once concluded a treaty of 
peace with Frederick, and united his Russian army with the Prussian. 
This connection, however, did not last long. Peter made enemies of his 
subjects by imprudent innovations in the Church and State, and by re- 
modelling the army upon the Prussian pattern. A conspiracy was formed 
against him, with the knowledge of his wife, whom Peter treated harshly 
on account of her dissolute behavior, in consequence of which, Peter III. 
was barbarously murdered by some Russian noblemen, and Catherine II. 

made herself mistress of the government which belonged by 
^^ ' "" right to her son, Paul. The empress recalled her army from 
Prussia, but confirmed the peace that had been concluded with Freder- 
ick ; and the Russian general, before his departure, assisted the Prussian 
king ill obtaining a victory. 

§ 465. The exhausted states were now all anxious for the conclusion 
of the war. The Germans, Avhose lands had been ravaged, whose in 
dustry had become stagnant, whose agriculture had been ruined, and 
whose prosperity had been destroyed, demanded peace in despair ; this in 
duced the greater number of the princes to withdraw from the alliance 
ao-ainst Frederick ; and, as the finances of Austria were also deranged, 
Maria Theresa no longer opposed the peace that was universally desired. 
February 21 A trucc afforded an opportunity for negotiations, which, in 

1763. the following February, led to the peace of Hubertsburg. In 
this, the possession of Silesia Avas secured to the king of Prussia for ever. 
The fluctuating land and naval Avar, that had been carried on between 
England and France in America, was, at the same time, terminated by 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 337 

the peace of Paris, by which England got possession of Canada. From 
this time, Prussia assumed her position among the five great powers of 
Europe. 

C. THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND THE AGE OF FREDERICK. 

§ 466. The German empire had so entirely lost all respect as apo- 
litical body, that it was not represented at the peace negotiations at 
Hubertsburg, and the sentence of outlawry pronounced against Frede- 
rick II. was received with scorn and ridicule. The power of the Empe- 
ror was sunk to an empty shadow, and his revenue to a few thousand 
florins. Nearly 350 princes and commonwealths, with the most varied 
powers and the most unequal extent of territory, ruled in Germany with 
all the rights of sovereignty, and left nothing to their common chief but 
the confirmation of mutual compacts, promotions, declarations of majority, 
and the determination of precedence. During war, the German princes 
not unfrequently embraced the hostile cause. Bavaria was always in 
alliance with France. The Diet, which had,'for a long time, been held in 
Regensburg, and which consisted of representatives of the princes and im- 
perial towns, had lost all respect, since it was too much occupied with 
speeches and debates to come to any decision, or if it came to any, was 
unable to give it authority. Obsolete rights were contended for with a 
little-minded jealousy ; rank, title, and the right of suffrage, were watched 
over with the greatest care, and all time and energy devoted to doctrinal 
disputes without object ; whilst foreign nations made Germany the thea- 
tre of their wars, and treated the imbecile body politic with insolence and 
contempt. The state of tribunals of justice was not less melancholy. 
The imperial chamber of Wetzlar, in which the complaints of Estates of 
the empire against each other or against their vassals were examined, 
proceeded with such tediousness and prolixity, that causes were often 
pending for years before judgment was pronounced, the suitors either 
died or fell into poverty, and the records increased to an immeasurable 
extent. The judges were chiefly dependent upon the fees for their re- 
muneration, and in this way a door was thrown open to corruption. An 
attempt on the part of the emperor, Joseph II., to improve and accelerate 
Joseph n., the progress of justice in the imperial chamber, was frustrated 
1765-1790. by the selfishness of the interested parties. As regards the 
lower courts, the great diversity in the laws, the number of small states, 
and the unlimited power of the judges and ofiicials, rendered it extremely 
difficult for the humble man to procure justice. The weak were exposed 
without defence to every injustice of the crafty and the strong. It was 
the golden age of jurists and advocates. 

§ 467. Whilst the German empire was sinking lower and lower, Prus- 
sia, under her sagacious and energetic king, rose to ever increasing power 
and prosperity. Frederick attempted to heal the wounds inflicted by 

29 



338 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

the seven years' war, to the best of his ability, by supporting the decayed 
land proprietors and the manufacturers in Silesia and the March with 
money, by remitting their taxes for a few years, and by relieving the lot 
of the peasants. He encouraged agriculture, planting, and mining ; 
established colonies in the uncultivated portions of his dominions ; and 
fostered industry, trade, and commerce with the greatest care. By these 
means, the country became prosperous, and he was enabled to increase 
his taxes without oppressing the people. His own frugality, the simplicity 
of his court, and the well-regulated economy of the state, were the occa- 
sion that the public treasury was every year better replenished. It was 
not until a later period that he adopted severe and oppressive measures. 
Among these, his management of the customs and excise may be par- 
ticularly mentioned. He made the sale of coifee, tobacco, salt, &c., a 
royal monopoly, and forbade the fi'ee trade in these articles. For the 
purpose of preventing any clandestine traffic, he appointed a number of 
French excise officers, who, by their insolence, made the regulation, which 
was otherwise so oppressive to the citizens and peasants, utterly detes- 
table. The affairs of the Church and of education gained the least by 
the attention of the king. In a small place, the situation of public in- 
structor was frequently a retiring post for a discharged petty officer, 
whilst the higher institutions were often left to the management of 
Frenchmen. The free-thinking king took little interest in the affiiirs of 
Christianity or the Church ; but we must admit that he procured the 
universal admission of the principle of Christian toleration in his domi- 
nions. Frederick devoted great attention to the affiiirs of justice. The 
rack and the horrible and degrading punishments of the middle age were 
abolished, the course of justice simplified, and the laws improved. The 
new book of laws that was introduced under his successor, Frederick 
William II., as the Prussian code, was prepared under Frederick. More 
important, however, than all these laws and arrangements was the fact, 
that Frederick II. inspected every thing himself, and narrowly inquired, 
during his journeys, after the administration of justice and the manage- 
ment of affairs, ejected the negligent and chastised the dishonest. By 
his untiring activity from early morning till late at night, he acquired a 
compx'ehensive knowledge of all the afiairs of his kingdom, and his com- 
manding character, which scrupled not at corporal punishment, terrified 
the slothful and the unjust. One peculiarity of the great king has often 
been blamed with justice — his love for what was foreign, and his neg- 
lect, nay contempt, for the things of his own country. It was not only 
in literature that Fredei'ick gave the preference to the French, so that 
he wrote his own letters and works in their language ; the whole proceed- 
ings of this nation were admired, and, as far as possible, imitated by him. 
French adventurers, by the hundred, found honor and support in Prussia ; 
and as this admiration of foreigners became the mode in other courts, all 



THE AGE OF FREDERICK. 339 

quarters of Germany swarmed with hair-brained Frenchmen. Parisian 
barbers, dancing-masters, and boasters were often preferred to the most 
deserving natives in the appointment to the higher offices of the court 
and government. 

§ 468. Frederick, in his old age, was once more involved in a w^ar 
with Austria. At the close of the year 1777, the Bavarian line of the 
house of Wittelsbach became extinct with Maximilian Joseph, and the 
electorship devolved to the next heir, Charles Theodore of the Palatinate. 
This licentious, profligate, and bigoted prince, who, despite his many 
faihngs and vices, is still affectionately remembered by the people of the 
Palatinate, and whose love of art is borne witness to by many remarkable 
erections in Mannheim, Schwetzingen, and Heidelberg, possessed neither 
legitimate offspring nor love for the land he inherited. He consequently 
easily allowed himself to be persuaded by the emperor Joseph II. to a 
treaty, in which he acknowledged the validity of Austria's claims to 
Lower Bavaria, the upper Palatinate, and the territory of Mindelheim, 
and declared himself ready to relinquish these lands in return for certain 
advantages being assured to his natural children. Frederick IL, alarmed 
at this aggrandizement of Austria, attempted to interfere with the project 
by inducing the future heii-, duke Charles of Zweibrucken, to protest 
against the contract in the Diet ; and as this was attended by no results, 
he ordered an army to march into Bohemia to prevent any change in the 
existing state of things. This gave occasion to the Bavarian war of suc- 
A. D. 1778, cession, which was carried on more with the pen than the 
1779. sword, inasmuch as both parties attempted to prove them- 

selves in the right by learned treatises. But as all the states were 
averse to a general war, Russia and France succeeded in persuading 
Maria Theresa, who had no liking for the zeal for innovation displayed 
by her son, to the peace of Teschen, by which Bavaria was secured to 
the house of the Palatinate, Innviertel with Braunau to Austria, and the 
succession of the Margravate of Anspach and Bayreuth to Prussia. The 
emperor, irritated at this, made a second attempt, after the death of 
Maria Theresa, to possess himself of Bavaria, offering in exchange the 
Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) as the Burgundian king- 
dom. Charles Theodore allowed himself to be persuaded to 
this also. But Frederick II. now attempted to frustrate this project, and 
to secure the succession in Bavaria to the house of the Palatinate, by 
establishing an alliance of princes, which was gradually joined by most of 
the princes of Germany. This princely confederation increased the 
power and consequence of the king of Prussia, in the same proportion 
that it entirely undermined the authority of the emperor. Each prince 
sought for independent and unlimited power ; each formed a miniature 
court, to which, in magnificence and profusion, in morals and fashions, in 
language, literature, and art, the court of Versailles served as a pattern. 



340 



THE MODERN EPOCH. 



d. THE INTELLECTUAL POPULAK LIFE IN GERMANY. 

§ 469. Prejudicial as this division of Germany was to its external 
power and greatness, it was in an equal degree advantageous to the de- 
velopment of the arts and sciences. Many princes were patrons and 
encouragers of literature and cultivation ; they sought to attract men of 
celebrity to their capitals and universities, and encouraged poets and men 
of learning to undertake great works by rewards and distinctions. Thus 
it happened, that in the second half of the eighteenth century, when Ger- 
many's political and military consequence was entix'ely lost, literature, 
poetry, science, and the entire spiritual life, received a mighty impulse, 
and created a degree of refinement such as has scarcely been equalled in 
Klopstock modern history. Poetry especially flourished. Klopstock, 
^- !*• by his great epic poem, the " Messiah," and by his odes and 

war-songs, awakened a warmth of Christian feeling, and a 
patriotic spirit of liberty ; he formed his severe and solemn diction and 
Lessinff ^^^ rhymless metre upon the model of the ancients. Lessing, 

■*• »• the great thinker and critic, in his " Hamburg-Dramaturgy," 

first exposed the weakness of French dramatic literature, 
and by his own pieces for the stage (" Minna von Barnhelm," " Emilia 
Galotti," " Nathan the Wise,") showed the way by which it was possible 
to attain to genuine dramatic poetry ; he at the same time, in his " Lao- 
coon," opened the eyes of thinkers to the essence of poetry and plastic 
Winckelmann ^'^^' ^^ understanding of which was revealed during the 
^- »• same period by Winckelmann, in a different way ; and in his 

' ■ remarkable controversial writings against the pastor Goze of 
Hamburg, on the Wolfenbiittel fragments, he displayed a vigor of lan- 
guage and a clearness of argument which are astonishing. Upon his 
Herder shoulders stands the poetical and intellectual Herder, who 

A- D. went back to the original sources of language and poetry, and 

revealed with fine taste the beauties of the Oriental poetry 
of nature ("On the Spirit of Hebrew Poetry," "Palm-leaves," &c.), and 
displayed the deep merit of the artless popular songs of different nations 
(in the " Cid," 'Voices of the People in Songs"), and gave a mighty im- 
impulse to further inquiries by his " Ideas towards a Philosophy of the 
Wieland History of Man." Wieland, the cheerful philosopher of life, 

A- 1>- in his romances (" Agathon," " The Abderites," " Aristip- 

' pus"), which are for the most part based upon the ancient 

Greek manners, with a modern coloring, addressed the sentiments and 
mode of thinking of the upper classes, which were formed upon the 
French model, and preached the wise enjoyment of life in loose and wag- 
gish language, a doctrine well suited to the higher ranks of society, and 
introduced German literature into a circle that had hitherto read nothing 
but French works. He, at the same time, renewed the romantic epic 



THE INTELLECTUAL POPULAR LIFE IN GEKMANY. 341 

poetry of the middle age in his " Oberon." German prose received a 
complete revolution from these three men : Lessing gave it strength, 
sharpness, and perspicuity ; Herder, elevation and richness of imagery ; 
Wieland, fluency and grace. It was on the ground prepared by these men 
Goethe ^^^* Goethe, the great genius of the century, brought forward 

A. u. ' his creations, in which the spiritual life of the nation and the 

1749 - 1832. progress of his own culture are reflected. At the genial and 
energetic age of seventeen, when the youth who was pressing onwards 
with violence, despised all the rules of art and usage, set no value on 
any thing but the productions (even when formless) of genius, praised 
the depths of original and natural poetry, delighted in popular ballads, 
and gazed in wondering admiration upon Ossian and Shakspeare, " The 
Sorrows of Werther," a romance in letters, and the drama of " Gotz von 
Berlichingen," in which these poets served as models, awakened a 
storm of enthusiasm ; when Lessing and Winckelmann had revived the 
interest for ancient art in Germany, the classical dramas, " Tasso " and 
" Iphigenia," in the spirit and in the clear and harmonious form of anti- 
quity, appeared in a time adapted for them ; and the impressions and feel- 
ings that the poet had received during his travels in Italy are reflected in 
the unsurpassable popular scenes of the tragedy of " Egmont." The idyllic 
epic, " Hermann and Dorothea," touched upon the mighty period of the 
French revolution and the soi-rows of the emigrants; the romance of " Wil- 
helm Meister," in which the life of a player is described, and the novel of 
" Elective Afiinities," belong to the new romantic time, which found plea- 
sure in the mysterious, the wonderful, and the fabulous. In " Poetry and 
Truth," Goethe displays the progress of his own life and mental develop- 
ment ; and in the magnificent dramatic poem of " Faust," with which 
we find him engaged through his whole life, he has left to posterity a 
picture of the most inward conditions of his soul. In the mean while, 
the political world had experienced violent convulsions, and the at- 
tention of the people was directed towards history and the affairs of 
Schiller state. At this juncture, Schiller, by his historical dramas, 

A. D. that presented before the soul of the nation similar tempest- 

1759 -l80o. jj^yg periods taken from foreign and domestic history, and by 
his enthusiasm for freedom, fathei'land, and human happiness, struck the 
chords that found the deepest response in the bosoms of the people. His 
first three tragedies, " The Robbers," '• Love and Intrigue," and •" Fiesko," 
belong to the stormy period of youth ; with the drama of " Don Carlos " 
begins a more refined period ; during his residence in Jena as professor 
of history, he occupied himself with the " Thirty Years' War," with the 
" Revolt of the Netherlands," and with the trilogy of " Wallenstein ;" and 
in the last years of his life, in Weimar, which were rendered gloomy by 
sickness and anxieties about the means of subsistence, he composed 
" Maria Stuart," the " Maid of Orleans," the " Bride of Messina," and the 

29* 



342 THE MODERISr EPOCH. 

magnificent drama of " William Tell." Schiller gained the friendship of 
Goethe by the purity of his feelings and the truthfulness of his eftbrts, 
different as the natures of the two men were. Their united activity 
marks the culminating point of German poetry. 

§ 470. Not poetry alone, but the science of religion, philosophy, his- 
tory, the affairs of education, in a word, the whole spiritual life, expe- 
rienced a mighty revolution. Protestant theologians searched through 
the Bible, and presented systems of Christianity in accordance with the 
Lavate direction of their own minds. Some, like Lavater, the pastor 

A. D. of Zurich, sought to preserve the world in a rigid faith by 

1741-1801. means of religious writings, and to establish the conviction 
that man is brought into immediate union with God by prayer ; others, 
Nicolai ^^^*^ ^^'^ Berlin bookseller and author, Nicolai, would admit 

A. D. no other judge in spiritual things than human reason and the 

1/83-1811. pQ^ygj. of reflection, and declared that every thing that was 
opposed to this was superstition. The former class were called Super- 
naturalists, the latter Rationalists. A third party, which included Hamann, 
the philosopher, Fr. H. Jacobi, and the poet Fr. Stolberg, like the mys- 
tics of the middle ages, made religion a matter of feeling. Lavater was 
also the inventor of the dubious science of physiognomy, which teaches 
how to discover men's characters from the contour of the head and fea- 
tures of the countenance, but which was exposed to some severe attacks 
from the clever humorist and satirist, Lichtenberg of Gottingen. In phi- 
Kant A. D. losophy, the great thinker, Kant of Konigsburg, erected a 
1724-1804. system that soon penetrated into all the sciences, and excited 
and swayed the learned world of Germany. Spittler, by his perspicuity 
and acuteness, and the Swiss, John Miiller, by his learning and artistic 
descriptions, established a new epoch in historical writing ; and in the 
affairs of education, Basedow, by the model seminary of Dessau (Phi- 
lanthropium), and Campe and Salzmann, by their writings for children, 
called a new method of instruction into existence, upon which the Swiss, 
Pestalozzi, founded his system of infant education and of popular schools. 



VI. THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW WORLD. 

1. contest of the english with the french for the posses- 
sion of north america. 

[a.d. 1700-1763.] 
§ 471. The French regarded Avith some uneasiness and alarm the en- 
largement and prosperity of the English colonies in North America. 
Their own settlements in Acadie (Nova Scotia), aloiig the shores of the 
Bay of Fundy, and in Canada, though formed before Jamestown was 
built or the Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth, seemed to have no element 



THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 343 

of life or progress ; they were military or missionary posts, rather than 
agricultural colonies firmly rooted in the soil. Among the French were 
found excellent pioneers, bold explorers of the wilderness, and devoted 
and successful missionaries. Fond of rambling and adventure, averse to 
the prolonged labors of agriculture, and satisfied with moderate gains and 
much amusement, they pushed their explorations and their alliances with 
the Indians far beyond the English, but gained no permanent possession 
of the country. The plastic nature of the Frenchman fitted him to be- 
come a friend and ally of the red men ; he did not do much towards civil- 
izing the savages, but was in some danger of becoming a savage himself. 
He joined them in the chase and the dance, built a wigwam in their vil- 
lage for his dusky concubine, and trained his children to become members 
of the tribe, and to adopt every peculiarity of Indian costume and man- 
ners. Still, he did not lose his nationality, but preserved his loyalty and 
his rehgious faith, and rendered cheerful obedience to the representative 
of his monarch, the governor of Canada. The Jesuits and Recollet mis- 
sionaries braved all the perils of the wilderness in their zeal to Christ- 
ianize the natives ; they made converts of many, — that is, they baptized 
them, hung crucifixes about their necks, and taught them to repeat the 
simplest formulas of prayer. While in company with their spiritual 
guides, the Indians were docile and devout ; separated from them, they 
soon relapsed into all the excesses of barbarism. The French mission- 
aries made many geographical discoveries ; they were the first to explore 
the Great Lakes, the first white men who beheld the great Falls of the 
Niagai-a. As early as 1565, Father Allouez reached the outlet of Lake 
Superior, and, three years afterward, in company with Marquette and 
Dablon, he visited the tribes on the southern border of this lake, and tra- 
versed the country between it and the foot of Lake Michigan. Trading 
and missionary posts were established by the French in this region, and 
they became the rallying points of civilization for the country around the 
upper Lakes. In 1673, Marquette and Joliet discovered the Missis- 
sippi, finding their way to it by the Fox and the Wisconsin rivers ; they 
sailed down the great stream to Arkansas, and on their return, passed up 
the Illinois, and thence found their way back to Green Bay. Nine years 
afterwards, Robert de la Salle accomplished the work which they had 
begun, by passino; down the river to its entrance into the 

April 1682 o ' ./ r o 

' ' Gulf of Mexico, and taking possession of the country on its 
banks and at its mouth in the name of his king, in whose honor he called 
it Louisiana. Louis XIV. granted him a commission to found a colony 
there, and an expedition on a liberal scale was fitted out from France for 
this purpose. The vessels arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, but were not 
able to find the entrance of the Mississippi, and the company were obliged 
to land on the coast of Texas, where they formed a temporary settlement. 
While conducting an expedition by land to discover the great river, La 



344 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

Salle was murdered by one of liis companions, and Uis associates in 
Texas were attacked and massacred by the Indians. So disastrous was 
the failure of this expedition that the French did not renew, for some 
years, the attempt to colonize Louisiana. 

§ 472. But Louis XIV. was anxious to complete the glories of bis 
reign by creating for France a colonial dominion on the banks of the 
great " Father of Waters," which should rival or eclipse the flourishing 
colonies of England on the Atlantic coast, that had been planted for her, 
in their penury and homelessness, by the hard hands and stout hearts of 
her political and religious exiles. After the peace of Ryswich, therefore, 
a brave French officer, Iberville, assisted by his two brothers, Sauvolle and 
Bienville, was sent out in command of four vessels, and a band of about 
200 emigrants, to renew the attempt made by La Salle. 

A D 1C99 I- ' i. ^ 

Aided by Father Anastasius, who had been one of La Salle's 
companions, he succeeded in finding the entrance of the Mississippi 
from the Gulf. But the low and marshy banks of this river appearing 
an unsuitable position for a settlement, he chose rather the barren and 
sandy shore of Biloxi bay, at some distance to the eastward from the 
river's mouth, and there disembarked his companions. As the emigrants 
thought not at all of agriculture, but only of mining and trade with the 
Indians, they readily accepted a spot where no green thing could ever 
grow, any more than on the desert of Sahara. Expecting to receive 
their chief supplies from France, their first object was to secure easy 
communication with the ships. But even this end was imperfectly ob- 
tained, for owing to the shallowness of the water, vessels could not come 
within a league's distance of the shore. The colony was afterwards 
transferred to an island over against the bay, where also the soil was a 
fine sand, white and shining as snow. About the same time. Mobile was 
founded, at the head of the bay of that name. An offer of four hundred 
Huguenot families, already inured to exile, hardship, and toil, to join 
the settlement, was rejected by the bigotry of the king and his ministers ; 
and the colony was left to consist of Canadian hunters, vagrant specula- 
tors, intent only upon trafficking in furs and hunting for the precious 
metals, and indolent office-holders who thought of nothing but their sala- 
ries. We are not surprised to learn, therefore, that, in 1708, the colonists 
hardly equalled in number those who first came out with Iberville, 
though a fresh band of emigrants had joined them almost every year. 
In 1723, the French government was informed that the inhabitants 
could not subsist if they did not receive a supply of salt provision. A few 
years before, an eye-witness says the famine was so great at Biloxi, that 
over five hundred people died of hunger. The lavish supplies furnished 
by the mother country alone preserved the colony from extinction. But 
the government, growing weary of such a burden, sold the settlement, in 
1712, to a wealthy merchant, who, in return for the exclusive right of 



THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 345 

trade and other privileges, undertook to defray its expenses ; and five 
years afterwards, this merchant transferred his right to the famous Mis- 
sissippi Company, which was projected and managed by John Law. The 
money lavished upon Louisiana for a few years by this gigantic corpora- 
tion, and the involuntary or hired emigrants who were sent thither, gave 
it for a time a gleam of prosperity. New Orleans w^as founded, and a 
fort and settlement begun higher up the river, where Natchez 

A. D. 1718. , b & I > 

now stands. 

§ 473. On the possession of this sickly colony, and on the previous 
explorations which had made known the course of the great river and 
the country around the great Lakes, the French founded their claim to 
the whole valley of the Mississippi. But the English always maintained 
that their possession of the seacoast gave them a valid title to the coun- 
try in the interior for an indefinite extent to the west; and in conformity 
with this idea, the charters of several of the Colonies made their territory 
stretch across the whole breadth of the continent, from sea to sea. The 
Five Nations, a powerful Indian confederacy, the steadfast friends of 
the English and enemies of the French, also claimed by right of conquest 
the whole country of the northwest, lying between the AUeghanies, the 
Great Lakes, and the Mississippi ; and England sought to perfect her 
title by annexing to it this pretension of the savages. So long as the 
two countries were at peace with each other, this controversy led only 
to a series of border disjjutes, encroachments, and intrigues with the na- 
tive tribes, neither party being numerous enough to colonize the territory 
which both coveted. But when England and France were at war, their 
respective Colonies in America also engaged in a murderous and protrac- 
ted conflict, which, because the savages were enlisted in it, was fearfully de- 
structive of life and pi'operty. The details of this warfare in the wilder- 
ness are shocking to humanity. It spared no sex, profession, or age, and 
through the mutual exasperation that it provoked, both parties in it were 
guilty of excesses which shamed their pretensions to Christian civilization. 

§ 474. The first struggle took place during the war which began with 
the accession of William of Orange to the English throne, and ended 
with the peace of Ryswick, in 1697. The weight of it, in America, fell 
chiefly upon New England and New York, the other Colonies being 
protected by their distance from the French settlements, and the mother 
country having too much employment for its arms in Europe, to be able 
to send much aid to its suffering children in America. At this period, 
and during the subsequent wars, the people of New England had their 
own peculiar grounds of quarrel with the French, who were their rivals 
in the fisheries, who encroached upon their boundaries, endangered their 
outlying settlements, and stirred up the savages against them, and whom, 
as Roman Catholics, they feared and hated even more than if they had 
been pagans. The French in Acadie and Canada, too feeble and few in 



346 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

number lo accomplish much by their own efforts, placed their chief de- 
pendence upon their Indian allies, the native tribes at the eastward 
being uniformly on their side. They thus succeeded in desolating the 
frontier, while Massachusetts retaliated by fitting out regular expeditions, 
and striking heavy blows against the chief settlements of the French. 
Dover, in New Hampshire, was burned by the Indians, and its inhabi- 
tants were killed or carried off as prisoners ; the fort at Pem- 
aquid was taken, and though an attack upon Casco was re- 
pulsed, all the settlements further east were desolated. The next year, 
Schenectady, on the Mohawk river, was attacked at midnight, burned, 
and most of the people were massacred, while another party of French 
and Indians destroyed Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, and a third re- 
duced Casco. Massachusetts, in return, sent out a little fleet, conveying 
about 700 men, under Sir William Phips, against Acadie ; he easily sub- 
dued Port Royal, and by ravaging that place and the neighboring settle- 
ments, obtained plunder enough to defray all the expenses of the ex- 
pedition. He then sailed with 32 ships and 2,000 men, to attack Que- 
bec, while a little army of Massachusetts and New York troops, under 
Fitz John Winthrop, marched against Montreal. Both were unsuccess- 
ful, being defeated by the great activity and vigilance of the aged Count 
Frontenac, then governor of Canada. The expenses of these bootless 
expeditions proved a heavy burthen to Massachusetts, obliging the Gene- 
ral Court to make a considerable issue of paper money. The war then 
languished, though a sickening contest Avas kept up by small parties on 
the frontiers, which caused great misery, and ruined many flourishing 
settlements. Peace was made in 1697, the-treaty stipulating that each 
party should retain the possessions it had before the war. 

§ 475. Four years afterwards, hostilities were renewed by the w^ar of 
the Spanish Succession, which ended only with the Treaty of Utrecht, 
in 1713. The Spaniards had a few small settlements in Florida, and 
as they were now the allies of the French, some of the disasters of the 
war fell upon the English Colonies at the south. Governor Moore, of 
South Carolina, led 600 men against the fort and settlement at St. Au- 
gustine ; but before the fort had surrendered, the appearance 
of two Spanish men-of-war in the offing induced him to re- 
treat precipitately, leaving behind his vessels and stoi'es. Three years 
afterwards, he conducted fifty white volunteers and about a thousand 
friendly Creek Indians against St. Marks, Florida, and the Spanish mis- 
sionary villages in its vicinity, Avhere a portion of the Appalachian tribe, 
half civilized and converted to Christianity, were established. The fort 
could not be taken, but Moore desolated the Indian villages, robbed and 
burned the churches, and gave up the country to his Creek allies, the 
Appalachians removing their settlement to the banks of the Altamaha. 
In retaliation, a French frigate and four Spanish sloops made an attack 



THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 347 

upon Charleston ; but the governor of South Carolina assembled 900 

men, captured the French vessel, and beat off the assailants 
A. D. 1706. . , , . , , , -, , , 

with great loss. At the north, the war was conducted, as be- 
fore, by small parties of Canadians and Indians, who made daring in- 
roads into the English settlements, plundered and burned one or two 
towns, massacred half jof the inhabitants, and carried off the others into 
Canada, before a force could be collected to oppose them ; while the Colo- 
nies, with a little help from England, sent out formidable expeditions 
against Acadie, Montreal, and Quebec, which were generally unsuccess- 
ful, though they sometimes inflicted great suffering upon the enemy, espe- 
cially upon the Acadians. Deerfield and Haverhill in Massachusetts were 
thus sacked and burned by a party of French and Indians under De 
Rouville, and the alarm spread even to the towns in the near vicinity of 
Boston. The government offered a considerable reward for Indian prison- 
ers or for scalps, — a fearful act, which shows how the atrocities committed 
during the war had broken down all the feelings of a common humanity. 
Indeed, after the terrible scenes which had taken place at Schenectady^, 
Deerfield, and Haverhill, the colonists had come to regard the French 
and Indians as wolves that should be hunted down without pity. Stimu- 
lated by these rewards, a class of forest scouts and Indian hunters was 
gradually formed and trained, who soon rivalled their savage foes in all 
the arts of bush-fighting and in disregarding the cry for mercy. Massa- 
chusetts, assisted by Rhode Island and New Hampshire, sent 
out an expedition of a thousand men, under Colonel March, 
against Acadie, hoping thus to check the destructive war on the eastern 
frontier. March did not succeed in capturing Port Royal, but he rava- 
ged all the settlements along the coast, and did much to cripple the ene- 
my's strength in that quarter. Much greater preparations were made 
two years afterwards, by a combination of the northern Colonies, for an 
attack on Montreal and Quebec, under the expectation that a British 
fleet and army would be sent to cooperate with them. But the Bri- 
tish ministry did not keep their promise, and after waiting a long time 
for the appearance of the fleet, the forces were disbanded without at- 
tempting anything. At last, in 1711, the Tory ministry of Queen Anne 
did make an effort against Canada for the relief of the sufferin"' Ameri- 
cans. A powerful fleet under Sir H. Walker, and a large body of troops 
commanded by General Hill, brother of the celebrated Mrs. Mashara, 
arrived at Boston when nobody was expecting them. But some provi- 
sions and Colonial forces were hastily got together, and embarked in the 
fleet, while a large force was collected at Albany to proceed against 
Montreal, as soon as they should hear of the fall of Quebec. But the 
British commanders proved to be wholly incompetent for so important a 
trust. Through the obstinacy and negligence of Walker, eight or nine 
of the transports were wrecked in the St. Lawrence, and a thousand men 



348 " THE MODERN EPOCH. 

were drowned. The disheartened admiral immediately turned about and 
made sail for England, and the troops at Albany were dismissed before 
they had seen the enemy. The disgraceful failure of this enterprise ex- 
cited much grief and indignation both in the Colonies and in the English 
House of Commons, where the Avhole undertaking, so suddenly begun 
and lightly abandoned, was denounced as a flagi-ant political job. The 
treaty of Utrecht put an end to the war, and afforded a little guaranty 
for the future, as it ceded the province of Acadie or Nova Scotia to the 
English, and recognized the Five Nations as subjects of England. But 
it was lone before the northern Colonies recovered from the disasters 
they had experienced in the murderous and ill-managed conflict. 

§ 476. Sir Robert Walpole's ministry maintained peace for about a 
quarter of a century, a peace broken in America only by a few short and 
comparatively insignificant contests with the Indians. But this minister 
was driven against his will into a war with Spain in 1739, and three 
years afterwards, France also became a party in the contest. Gen. 
Oglethorpe was appointed military commander in Georgia and the Caro- 
linas ; and with about 1,200 men, and a body of Indians, he 
made an attack upon St. Augustine, but was unsuccessful. 
All the Colonies were then required to furnish their quotas for a force of 
about 4,000 men, to aid Admiral Vernon in his unfortunate expedition 
against Carthagena. They readily complied, furnishing both men and 
money, and were thus deeply concerned by the failure of that ill-starred 
enterprise. Then the Spaniards, in their turn, became the assailants, 
and sent a considerable force against Georgia and Carolina, which was 
repelled by Oglethorpe without much difficulty. At the north, the chief 
incident of -the war was the capture of the sti'ong French fortress of 
Louisburg, on Cape Breton, by an army fitted out in great part from 
Massachusetts, and commanded by an enterprising militia 
officer. Colonel Pepperell. This place had been so heavily 
fortified as to be deemed impregnable, and it was called the Dunkirk or 
Gibraltar of America. In war, it was a source of great annoyance to 
the New England Colonies, as it gave shelter to the privateers which 
swarmed upon the coast, destroying their fisheries and breaking up their 
general commerce. Its unexpected capture, after a siege of six or seven 
Aveeks, by a force seemingly very inadequate to make an impression upon 
it, was about the only gleam of good fortune that illustrated the arms of 
Great Britain during this inglorious war. Col. Pepperell received a 
baronetcy as his reward. Again a project was formed to capture Que- 
bec by a fleet and army from England, to be joined at Louisburg by 
troops from New England, while an army furnished by the other Colo- 
nies should proceed against Montreal ; and again, after a large Colonial 
force had been collected, and great expense incurred, the English fleet 
and army failed to appear, and the enterprise was abandoned. As Mas- 



THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 349 

saclausetts guarded her frontiers with as much energy as she had shown 
in acting against Louisburg, she suffered comparatively little from the 
incursions of the French and Indians. The war was ended in 1748 by 
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, which, to the great chagrin of the New 
Englanders, ceded back Louisburg to the French. 

§ 477. The decisive struggle between France and England for the 
possession of the country on the Mississippi and the Great Lakes began 
in 1753, though war was not formally declared till three years later. 
Louisiana had at last gained wealth and strength, and the French mis- 
sionary and trading establishments on the Lakes had been converted into 
military posts, formidable not so much from the strength of their garri- 
sons, as from the savage allies by whom they were surrounded, or who 
could be quickly summoned to their defence. A plan was formed to 
connect Canada with Louisiana by a line of forts, extending from Lake 
Erie along the upper waters of the Ohio, and thence by the course of 
that river to the Mississippi ; thus hemming in the British settlements, 
which occupied a narrow strip of land on the Atlantic coast, and had 
nowhere passed the Alleghanies. This project soon brought the French 
into collision with the Ohio Company, an association formed in London and 
Virginia, which had obtained fi-om the crown a grant of a large tract of 
land along the Ohio, and had erected trading houses there. The French 
warned the English traders off, or sent them prisoners to Canada ; and 
complaint was therefore made to the Governor of Virginia, who sent out 
George Washington, then a young officer in the militia service, on a 
message to the French commander, requiring him to withdraw his troops 
from that region. An unsatisfactory answer was returned, and Col. 
Washington was again despatched, at the head of four hundred men, to 
drive off the intruders. He captured a scoutinji; party that 

A. D. 1754. . , . , ^ ^ ., , , 

was sent agamst him, but was soon alter assailed by a very 
superior force of French and Indians, and after a brave defence, was 
obliged to capitulate on honorable terms, and return to the eastward. 
Preparations for war were now made by both parties, though the con- 
test seemed a very unequal one. The population of the English colonies 
amounted to a million and a half, while the French scarcely num- 
bered one hundred thousand. But the latter were difficult to be reached, 
as their forts were remote points in the wilderness, surrounded by a cloud 
of Indian allies ; and from these forest fastnesses, they menaced the 
whole English frontier. The British army of that day was an unwieldy 
and cumbrous machine, overburdened with baggage and the munitions 
of war, led by brave but pedantic officers, and likely to be tlirown into 
inextricable confusion and distress by the difficulties of hewing a path 
through the forests and over the mountains, in constant danger of surprise 
by a hght-heeled and enterprising foe. 

§ 478. General Braddock was sent from England with two regiments, 

30 



A. D. 1755 ° 



350 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

to be joined by some provincial troops from Virginia, and then to march 
against Fort du Quesne, which the French had lately built 
at the head of the Ohio, -where Pittsburgh now stands. 
He crossed the mountains in June, with about two thousand men. Colonel 
Washington acting as his aid-de-camp. The difficulty of making a road 
through the wilderness induced him, at Washington's advice, to leave 
behind his heavy baggage under a rear guard, and press forward rapidly 
with a band of 1,200 men, to secure the post before French succors 
could arrive. Neglecting the precautions which he had been urged to 
take against surprise, when near his journey's end, he fell into an ambus- 
cade formed by only 250 French, with a large party of Indians, and was 
totally routed, more than half of his troops being killed or wounded. 
Braddock himself was slain ; and the panic being communicated to the 
rear guard, all the artillery and baggage were abandoned, and the feeble 
remains of the army fled in great disorder across the mountains, leaving 
the border settlements defenceless. The other expeditions planned by 
the British ministry and the Colonies for this year had but little success. 
Acadie, or Nova Scotia, indeed, was easily reduced, the French inhabit- 
ants of this province, notwithstanding its cession to England thirty years 
before, having assisted the operations of the enemy. For this act, and 
September ^0^^ refusing to take the oath of allegiance, they were now in- 
1755. humanly punished ; seven thousand of them were forcibly 

put on shipboard, and transported to the English colonies, where they 
were scattered round, and maintained as paupers. Their villages were 
burned, their fields devastated, and the few that remained were driven 
for shelter to the woods and mountains. An army under Sir William 
Johnson, directed against Crown Point, was encountered, near Lake 
George, by Baron Dieskau, who had recently arrived with fresh troops 
from France. An English party that had been sent in advance fell into 
an ambuscade, and was routed with great loss. But when the French, 
flushed with this success, advanced to attack Johnson's main body, who had 
now thrown up a slight entrenchment, they were very warmly received, 
and, after an obstinate conflict, were driven from the field, and totally dis- 
persed, their commander being wounded and taken prisoner. Satisfied 
with this victory. Sir William Johnson gave up the movement against 
Crown Point ; and the expedition to Niagara also proved a failure, the 
troops not being able to reach that place, owing to the lateness of the 
season. 

§ 479. A meeting of delegates from seven of the Colonies had been 
held at Albany, to secure the friendship of the Indian con- 
federacy of the Five Nations, and to take other measures for 
the common safety. A plan of union between the several Colonies, drawn 
up by Dr. Franklin, was proposed at this convention, and accepted by the 
delegates. Had it gone into operation, it would have given greater unity 



THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 351 

to the efforts of the Colonists in war, and might have led to important 
consequences by cultivating among them, at this early day, a feeling of 
nationality and a sense of mutual dependence. But the project fell to 
the ground, being disliked in England because it gave too much power to 
the people in the Colonies, and in America, because it conceded too much 
to the crown. 

§ 480. The year 1756 passed av/ay without any thing of consequence 
being attempted by the English in America ; while the French, under 
the able guidance of the Marquis de Montcalm, now their commander- 
in-chief, struck one vigorous and important blow. This was directed 
against Oswego, a strong English post on the southern shore of Lake 
Ontario, which the French suddenly invested with a large armament, 
and compelled it to surrender, with a garrison of over a thousand men, 
and a great quantity of artillery and stores. The western Indians, sus- 
tained and guided by the French at Fort Du Quesne, wasted the, frontiers 
of Pennsylvania and Virginia with a pitiless and desolating war, and their 
scalping parties came within thirty miles of Philadelphia. The next year 
was marked by equal inactivity and feebleness on the part of 
the English, and by another successful enterprise of the French. 
Several of the Colonies showed great energy in raising men and money ; 
but their eiforts were paralyzed by the want of concert with each other, 
by the necessity of waiting for orders from England, and by the pompous 
and dilatory proceedings of the incompetent generals who were sent over 
to command them. On the other hand, Montcalm, not obliged to take 
council with any one, suddenly collected a force of 8,000 men, crossed 
Lake George, and laid siege to Fort William Henry at its southern ex- 
tremity. The garrison was 2,000 strong, and General Webb was at 
Fort Edward, only fourteen miles distant, with 4,000 more. But not a 
man did Webb send to the relief of the beleagured fort ; and after six 
days' siege, the garrison was compelled to surrender, on condition of being 
allowed to retire to Fort Edward unmolested. But as soon as they were 
disarmed, Montcalm's Indian allies fell upon them, massacred a consider- 
able number, and drove the others into the woods, where many perished 
before reaching the settlements. The capture of this post created great 
alarm in New England and New York. Pepperell, the captor of Louis- 
burg, was called out from his retirement and made Lieutenant-General 
of Massachusetts, where 20,000 men were collected in arras. But satis- 
tied with the success already obtained, Montcalm retired to Canada with- 
out attempting any thing further. 

Thus far, the war had been very disastrous to the English. After 
three campaigns, the French not only retained possession of every foot 
of tiie disputed ground, but had captured Oswego, driven their opponents 
from Lake George, and, through their savage confederates, had carried 
the brand and the tomahawk into the heart of the English settlements. 



352 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

§ 481. To remedy this train of disasters, the elder Pitt was called to 
the head of the English ministry, and his vigor and determination soon 
grave a new aspect to the war. Abercrombie, who was 
called to the command in America, found himself at the 
head of 50,000 men, of whom about one half were provincial levies. 
All the Canadians who could bear arms did not exceed 20,000, and these 
had been kept so constantly in service that agriculture had been almost 
entirely neglected, and the horrors of a famine were added to those of 
war. An attack was first made on Louisburg, which was soon com- 
pelled to surrender by a large fleet and an army of 14,000 men, under 
General Amherst. Forbes marched against Fort Du Quesne with so 
considerable a force that the garrison, reduced by the desertion of most 
of their Indian allies to less than 500 men, did not venture to await his 
appi'oach, but set fire to the works, and retreated down the river. Aber- 
crombie, who advanced with the main body of the army against Ticon- 
deroga, was not so successful. Montcalm had thrown himself into that 
fortress with a strong garrison, and had so obstructed the approaches to 
it by an abatis of felled trees, that the place was really impregnable ex- 
cept by the regular operations of a siege. The English rashly attacked 
at once, and in front, with bulldog courage ; but after a gallant struggle, 
they were beaten off with heavy loss, and compelled to retreat in dis- 
order to Fort William Henry. But Bradstreet, at the head of a pro- 
vincial force from New England and New York, made amends for this 
repulse by the capture of Frontenac, which gave the English the com- 
mand of Lake Ontario, and shut off Montreal and Quebec from the 
French posts at the west. The Indian tribes along the Ohio and the 
upper Lakes now sued for peace ; and a treaty, formed with them at 
Easton, once more gave security to the frontiers of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania. 

§ 482. Stimulated by the successes of this year, Pitt resolved to make 
a great effort, the next campaign, for the conquest of Canada. The 
Colonies, their former expenditures having been promptly reimbursed by 
the English government, nobly seconded his endeavor by bringing 
20,000 men into the field, and raising a large sum in money for their 
outfit. The command of the main expedition against Quebec was given 
to Wolfe, a young general of much gallantry and promise, 
who appeared in the St. Lawrence in June, with a powerful 
fleet, and an army of 8,000 regular troops. Two subsidiary expeditions 
were organized, one, under Amherst, to proceed by way of Lake Cham- 
plain against Montreal, and the other, under Prideaux, against Fort 
Niagara. The want of vessels impeded Amherst's operations ; but 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point fell into his hands without a struggle, the 
danger of Quebec having caused the garrisons to be withdrawn ; and a 
detachment from his army attacked and burned the Indian village of St. 



THE FKENCH AND ENGLISH* IN AMERICA. 353 

Francis, whence many of those scalping parties had issued which had 
desolated the frontiers of New England. Prideaux was killed at the 
siege of Niagara by the bursting of a gun ; but his successor, Sir William 
Johnson, defeated a force of 1,200 French who advanced to relieve the 
place, and pressed the siege with so much vigor, that the garrison soon 
surrendered. He should then have proceeded down the Lake and the 
St. Lawrence, to cooperate in the attack upon Quebec; but the want of 
vessels frustrated this part of the project also, and Wolfe was thus left 
to his original resources. His force, indeed, outnumbei-ed that of the 
enemy, and was better disciplined ; but the latter had the advantage of 
one of the strongest positions in the world, well fortified, and were com- 
manded by a general who had merited the highest honors in war. As 
long as Wolfe attacked the French intrenchments below the city, along 
the banks of the St. Charles, on which side alone he was expected, 
Montcalm easily frustrated all his efforts. But the British general con- 
ceived the bold plan of secretly passing up the river, and scaling by sur- 
prise the Heights of Abraham, as the lofty plateau is called on a pro- 
jecting point of which lies the upper town of Quebec. The project was 
gallantly executed, though the lofty bank of the river was so precipitous 
that the men could with difficulty pull themselves up by clinging to pro- 
jecting roots and stones. Finding that the English had thus got in his 
rear, where his defences were weak, Montcalm drew out all his troops 
before the city, and put the fate of Canada upon the arbitrament of a 
single battle. The issue was not long doubtful ; the undisciplined and 
half famished levies that formed the greater part of the French army, 
fled hastily after a few vollies, and were pursued with great execution to 
the gates of the city. Montcalm and Wolfe both fell on the field, mor- 
September 18, f^lly wounded. Quebec surrendered in less than a week, 
l'?59- and the war in North America was virtually at an end, 

though Montreal was not taken by the English till the following year. A 
capitulation was then signed by the French governor-general, which sur- 
rendered to the English all the remaining posts in westei'n Canada. The 
peace of Paris soon followed, by which France ceded to 
England all North America east of the Mississippi, except 
the island and city of New Orleans, which, with all Louisiana west of 
the great river, were given to Spain. England also received Florida 
from Spain, in exchange for the Havana. 

§ 48o. The war between the Europeans was at an end ; but the Eng- 
lish Colonies had still to sustain a desperate struggle of the Indians, who 
could not be easily won to respect the authority of their new masters. 
The Cherokees had previously broken out into a war, after 

A. D. 1760. „. . ^ ^ , T- ,- 1 r J J 

sutienng some gross wrong from the English; had ravaged 
the frontiers of Virginia and the Carolinas, and defeated a considerable 
detachment of troops, and were finally driven to sue for peace only by 

30* 



354 lllil MODERN EPOCH. 

the presence of an overwhelming force. Hardly had the English taken 
possession of the posts at the west and around the Lakes, when Pontiac, 
an Indian chief of much activity and address, vpas able to unite all the 
northwestern tribes in a conspiracy against them. The secret 
was so well kept that, at the appointed time, the savages took 
by surprise all the posts at the west, except Detroit and Fort Pitt (Du 
Quesne), and massacred the garrisons. The border settlements were 
swept with a more destructive war than they had ever before experienced. 
Several detachments of troops, that were sent out to relieve the two belea- 
guered forts, were intercepted and cut to pieces. At last, two consider- 
able expeditions were fitted out, the one to advance through Pennsylvania, 
and the other to proceed along the Lakes ; and after some hard fighting 
with the former one, the Indians submitted, and made peace 

A. 13.1761. , ' . , ^ , 

upon the terms that were required of them. 
§ 484. The protracted contest with the French and the Indians being 
brought to a close by the complete triumph of the English, the American 
Colonies were seemingly in the full tide of prosperity. The great exer- 
tions they had made during the last war had taught them the secret of 
their strength ; that war had cost them, it was computed, about 30,000 
lives and over sixteen millions of dollars, of which only five millions 
were repaid by the British ministry. Immigration rapidly increased, and 
the vast forest in the interior began to be explored by those who were in 
search of a new home. The Delaware and Hudson rivers were crossed 
by a thronging multitude, the Alleghanies were surmounted, and white 
settlements were formed upon the upper tributaries of the Ohio. No 
longer liemmed in, as with a ring of iron, by the French and the savages, 
the internal principle of expansion, which has been at work ever since, 
received its first free development, and carried the limits of civilization 
every year farther west. Trade flourished on the sea-coast ; Boston had 
long been distinguished for enterprising traffic, and Newport, New York, 
Philadelphia, and Baltimore were rising rapidly in commercial impor- 
tance. Printing presses and newspapers, schools and colleges, flourished, 
though the literature of the Colonies as yet existed only in the humble 
form of sermons. Yet the metaphysical writings of Jonathan Edwards 
slowly acquired a European reputation, and the fame of Dr. Franklin 
was carried, by his brilliant discoveries in electricity, to the bounds of 
the civilized world. 

2. THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT 
OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. 

§ 485. But the prosperity of America was now to receive a sudden 
check, and a contest to begin more important to her, and more momentous 
in its consequences, than any which the world had ever witnessed. Eng- 
land was oppressed by a heavy debt, which had been more than doubled 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 355 

by the heavy expenses of the late war, and the people were overbur- 
dened with taxes. In an evil hour, it occurred to the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer that this pressure might be lightened, if the American Colo- 
nies could be made to contribute to the general expenses of the empire. 
The war, though not undertaken for their relief or advantage, but to gra- 
tify the ambition of the mother country by enlarging the bounds of her 
colonial dominion, had still, by its successful termination, contributed 
largely to their prosperity ; and it was plausibly urged that they ought 
to bear a portion of the weight which it had entailed upon the nation. 
It was forgotten that they had expended blood and treasure during the 
contest at least as freely, in proportion to their means, as England ; that 
if the war had benefitted them more, it had also cost them more ; and 
that they were already heavily taxed by their assemblies, to pay the inte- 
rest on their colonial debts and defray the necessary expenses of these 
provincial governments. Though they had never been taxed by the 
authority of England, they had made liberal contributions to the king's 
service when asked to do so, and when they were invited to judge of the 
exigency of the case, and to determine how the money should be raised. 
They did not refuse to give, but they insisted that their money should 
not be given without their consent, — that they should not be taxed with- 
out their consent. But the British ministry refused to listen to these 
considerations ; they thought only of the paramount authority of parlia- 
ment, and of the means of lessening their own unpopularity by alleviating 
the taxes at home. The late war had thrown new light upon the magni- 
tude of the resources of the Colonies ; and to the argument that they had 
never been taxed before, the minister had no better answer to make than 
the insolent plea of Dr. Johnson, that " the ox had no reason to complain 
of the aggravation of the burdens laid upon the calf." They forgot that 
the horns of the ox had grown ; that if the Americans were now more 
able to pay taxes, they were also more able to defend themselves against 
unjust impositions. Yet was the step not taken without some hesitation. 
The plan had been proposed before, to the ministry of Sir Robert Wal- 
pole and lo that of the Pelhams. But those sagacious statesmen had 
refused to hazard so dangerous an experiment. Even George Gren- 
ville, the author of the present scheme of parliamentary taxation, would 
not reduce it to practice till he had tried the temper of the people, and 
ascertained by parliamentary measures how much they were able and 
willing to bear. 

§ 48 G. The Americans had always admitted, in general terms, that 
parliament had a right to regulate their trade ; but practically, and 
favored by their insignificance and remoteness, they had always evaded 
these regulations, and had enjoyed almost as much license in commerce 
as in the management of their domestic affairs. A large part of the trade 
maintained by the northern Colonies was known to be contraband, and 



356 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

the occasional endeavors of the government to enforce the Navigation 
Act and other laws of commerce had no other effect than to harass and 
irritate the people. A vigorous attempt to enforce these laws to the let- 
ter was to be the prelude to direct taxation. Cruisers were stationed on 
the coast, and enjoined to be vigilant ; custom-house officers and informers 
were stimulated by the offer of rewards; and Writs of Assistance were 
granted, which empowered an officer to enter any shop or dwelling house, 
and search for contraband goods. So gross a violation of the principle of 
English law that every man's house is his castle, could not fail to make a 
ferment ; no name or occasion being specified in the writ, the officer who 
1 held it could select any dwelling that he saw fit, and thus, perhaps, gra- 
tify some personal grudge. The legality of these writs was denied, and 
on as good ground, apparently, as that on which the validity of " gen- 
eral warrants " was afterwards questioned in England. When the cause 
Febraary, which was to determine their legality came on for trial at 
1761. Boston, James Otis, a lawyer of great ability, high reputation, 

and an eager and impetuous spirit, resigned his lucrative office of advo- 
cate-general for the crown, which would have obliged him to argue in 
favor of the writs, and appeared as counsel for the petitioners in opposi- 
tion to them. The speech whicli he then delivered, for boldness and elo- 
quence in asserting and defending the rights of the Colonies, was a 
memorable one, and produced a marked effect on public opinion in Mas- 
sachusetts. John Adams, who was present at its delivery, says, " Every 
man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I 
did, ready to take arms against Writs of Assistance. Then and there was 
the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born. In fifteen 
years, that is, in 177G, he grew up to manhood, and declared himself 
free." The court postponed judgment on the case, and never delivered 
it; but these writs were never afterwards used in the Colony. 

§ 487. After this scene, and many others of similar tendency, had cre- 
ated much alarm and awakened a spirit of determined resistance in 
February G, America, Mr. Grenville introduced into parliament his bill 
A. D. 1765. for imposing a stamp tax on the American Colonies, and it 
became a law with little opposition. Stamped papers, upon which a con- 
siderable impost was to be paid, were required for all judicial proceed- 
ings, clearances at the custom-house, bills of lading, and even the diplo- 
mas granted by seminaries of learning. The law was not to take effect 
for about seven or eight months after its passage. The news that the 
bill had become a law arrived in Boston early in April ; and the effect 
was as if a cannon had been fired so near the ears of the peo[)le that 
they were all stunned by the explosion. They seemed stupified at 
first; there was no popular outbreak, no meeting for the passage of vio- 
lent resolutions. But it was the lull which precedes, and not that which 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 357 

follows the tempest. The General Court assembled in May, and they 
immediately resolved that the other Colonies should be invited to unite 
with them in sending delegates to a Congress, to be held in New York 
in October, to consult together on the present state of affairs and the 
recent acts of parliament. This was a significant intimation that the 
Colonies were at last aware of the strength and firmness which they 
might acquire by concert and union. As this Stamp Act Congress, as it 
was called, was not to meet till the month before the time appointed 
for the law to go into operation, the people meanwhile took the aflair 
into their own hands. Newspapers, pamphlets, sermons, and associa- 
tions served to kindle and to manifest their indi";nant feelings. An 
agreement not to import any more goods from England till tlie obnox- 
ious act should be repealed was very generally signed in the com- 
mercial towns ; and combinations were also formed to encourage Amer- 
ican manufactures, to wear American cloth, and to increase the supply of 
wool by ceasing to eat lamb or mutton. Such a ferment of opinion could 
not long prevail without leading to acts of violence ; though the patriot 
leaders deplored this result, and exerted themselves to prevent it, fore- 
seeing its injurious effect upon the cause. Mr. Oliver, who had accepted 
the post of distributor of stamps in Boston, was hung in effigy, a building 
designed for his office was demolished, his house was assaulted, and he 
was so much frightened that he consented to appear before the people 
and publicly resign his commission. A few days afterwards, the mob 
entered the houses of two officers of the customs, and damaged the fur- 
niture, and then proceeded to the residence of Lieut. Governor Hutchin- 
son, which they completely gutted, and burned his furniture in the street. 
A town meeting was held the next day, at which the citizens expressed 
their detestation of these outrages, and offered aid to the magistrates in 
their endeavors to prevent a repetition of them. In the other Colonies, 
also, the stamp distributors resigned their offices, enough of popular vio- 
lence being shown to intimidate them. The Virginia Assembly, as soon 
as the news of the passage of the Stamp Act arrived, passed a series of 
resolutions, under the influence of Patrick Henry, one of which declared 
that " the sole right and power to lay taxes was vested in the General 
Assembly," and could not be transferred to any other persons whatever. 
But this resolution passed by a majority of only one vote, and the next 
day, it was reconsidered and expunged from the journals. Delegates 

^ ^ , ^ from nine of the Colonies assembled at the Con";ress in New 
October 7. r^ ^ 

lork, and assurances were received from two other Colonies 

that they would acquiesce in the result. The proceedings of this Con- 
gress were singularly moderate, considering the excited temper of 
the people. They only published a declaration of the Rights and 
Grievances of the Colonies, and addressed a petition to the king, and me- 
morials to the two houses of parliament ; and the tone of these documents, 



358 ■ THE MODERN EPOCH. 

though firm, wfis mild, argumentative, and respectfuL They claimed 
all the privileges of British subjects, and especially that of not being taxed 
without their own consent. When these papers were signed, the Con- 
gress was dissolved, after a session of little more than a fortnight. The 
chief advantage derived from it was, that it made the patriot leaders 
from the different Colonies acquainted with each other, and enabled them 
to give assurances of mutual support. November came, but the stamps 
were nowhere used, and the business even of the courts of justice, after a 
short suspension, was resumed. The act "vvas practically nullified, with 
the assent, either free or enforced, of the judges and the governors. 

§ 488. The cause of the Colonies, which they pleaded with much ear- 
nestness and ability, soon found sympathy in the whole of Europe ; and 
in England itself, it was embraced by a powerful party, which opposed 
the measures of government both in speech and writing. At the head 
of this opposition stood the great statesman and orator, the elder William 
Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham ; and he was actively supported by 
Conway, Col. Bai're, and Lord Camden, afterwards Lord Chancellor, 
and, next to Lord Mansfield, the highest legal authority in the realm. 
This powerful opposition produced a change of ministry in July, 1765, 
and, after a vehement debate, after Dr. Franklin had undergone a memo- 
rable examination before the House of Commons, in which he declared 
that the Act could never be enforced, the Stamp Act was repealed. But 

a bill was passed at the same time, declaratory of the power 
March, 1766. -, . , n ,. •,.-,.•• n , 

and right of parliament to bind America in all cases what- 
soever. In the Colonies, the news of the repeal was received with great 
rejoicing, the accompanying act being justly regarded as a mere contri- 
vance to save the honor of government. Lord Camden, indeed, in the 
House of Lords, had strenuously opposed the declaratory bill as " ab- 
solutely illegal." " Taxation and representation," he declared, " ai'c 
inseparably united ; God hath joined them, and no British parliament 
can put them asunder." Indemnity was demanded from the Colonies for 
those officers of the crown who had suffered from the late riots ; and 
both New York and Massachusetts granted them full compensation. 

§ 489. But the joy of the Americans was of short duration, for in 
little more than a year, another act was passed by parliament, imposing 
duties on all tea, paper, glass, paints, and lead, that should be imported 
into the Colonies. This was an avowed attempt to raise a revenue, 
though, in form, the bill was like other acts for regulating trade ; and it 
was hoped that, on this account, it would escape censure. But the prin- 
ciple first advanced by James Otis was now generally adopted by the 
Colonists, that revenue bills under the form of regulations of trade vio- 
lated their rights quite as much as direct taxation. Thus the flame of 
opposition was kindled anew, and raged as hotly as ever. Non-importa- 
tion was an obvious and legal means of escaping these taxes ; and ex- 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 359 

tensive combinations were therefore formed to refrain from the use, not 
only of the taxed articles, but. as far as possible, of all other British com- 
modities. Able leaders and defenders of the pojDular cause were not 
wanting. Besides James Otis, there were the two Adamses (Samuel 
and John,) and John Hancock in Massachusetts, John Dickenson in 
Pennsylvania, (the author of the celebrated " Farmer's Letters," an able 
plea for Colonial rights,) Patrick Henry and R. H. Lee in Virginia, and 
Gadsden and Rutledge in South Carolina, besides Dr. Franklin, whose 
reputation and abilities were of great weight in London, where he resi- 
ded for many years as agent of several of the Colonies. The profits of 
British merchants were soon so much diminished by the non-importation 
agreements, that they petitioned for a repeal of the law ; and in deference 
to their wishes, not to the rights of America, the duties were taken off 
from all the articles except tea, the impost on that being avowedly re- 
tained for the sole purpose of asserting the authority of parliament to 
pass such a law. This duty was very small, only three pence on the 
pound ; and as a drawback was now allowed, of a shilling on the pound, 
originally paid on the importation of the article into Great Britain, the 
Colonists might actually receive their tea at a lower price than they had 
formerly paid. But the principle was at stake ; the Americans saw very 
well, that if they submitted to this law, all imported commodities would 
soon be subjected to heavy duties. No tea was imported; and other sub- 
jects of controversy also coming up, a furious contest, m speech and print, 
raged both in England and America. But public sentiment in the former 
country was generally turned against the Colonies ; high notions of govern- 
ment and unfounded opinions in political economy, the pride of national 
dominion and a disposition to stretch the authority of parliament to the 
utmost, all served to nourish the fatal error. As Dr. Franklin observed, 
"every man in England seems to consider himself as a piece of a sove- 
reign over America ; seems to jostle himself into the throne with the king, 
and talks of ' our subjects in the Colonies' " George IIL also, with the high 
notions of prerogative that had been instilled into him before he came 
to the throne, and with the dogged obstinacy of a dull intellect, adhered 
to the delusion long after the nation, the parliament, and even the minis- 
try, had been cured of it, and wished to retract. 

§ 490. The war of pamphlets, newspapers, and speeches, the sharp 
controversies between colonial assemblies and royal governors, and occa- 
sional outbreaks of popular violence continued for four or five years, till 
the Americans were well nigh weaned from their old affection for the 
land of their forefathers, and had ceased to glory in the British name. 
Boston was the head quarters of opposition to the policy of the English 
ministers, and several regiments of British troops Avere accordingly sent 
thither to dragoon the inhabitants into submission. But this measure 
served only to increase the irritation, and to make the breach irreparable. 



'.» 



360 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

An affray soon took place between the mob and the soldiers, in Avhich 

„ , ^^ the latter fired, and killed three of their unarmed assailants, 
March 5, 1770. , . , , , t ^ i -r 

besides dangerously wounding nve others. It was late in 

the evening ; the alarm bells rang, the citizens rushed into the streets, 
and an open battle between the people and the troops was with ditiiculty 
prevented. The next day, the irritation of the people was so strongly 
manifested in a town meeting, that the governor and the military com- 
mander consented to remove the troops to an island in the harbor, and 
quiet was restored. The soldiers who had fired, with their officer, Avere 
brought to trial for murder ; but Adams and Quincy, two of the most 
distinguished advocates of popular rights, nobly consented to act as 
their legal defenders, and made out so clear a case for them, that they 
had acted under strong provocation, that the jury acquitted them of mui'- 
der, and only two were convicted of manslaughter and slightly punished. 
. Yet the story of " the Boston Massacre," as it was called, served long to 
inflame the passions of the multitude against their British oppressors. 

§ 491. As yet, no revenue had been received from the duty on tea, 
because the Americans would not import any of that commodity, the 
little which they consumed being obtained by smuggling. But the con- 
test was brought to a crisis, in 1773, by the East India Company, which, 
instigated by the English ministry, sent several cargoes of tea to the 
Colonies, supposing with good reason that it would be purchased if it could 
only be landed and offered for sale. But the patriots were on the alert, 
and immediately formed combinations to prevent the landing of the tea, 
and to force the consignees to send it back. In New York and Phila- 
delphia, popular vengeance was denounced against any persons who 
should receive the article, and even against the pilots if they should guide 
the ships into the harbor ; and the vessels were thus obliged to return to 
England, without even effecting an entry at the custom-house. At 
Charleston, the tea was landed and stored in damp cellars, where it was 
quickly spoiled. At Boston, Governor Hutchinson and Admiral Montague 
succeeded in preventing the vessels from leaving the harbor, in spite of the 
menaces of the inhabitants ; whereupon, about fifty persons disguised them- 
selves as Mohawk Indians, boarded the ships at the wharf, and, in the pre- 
sence of a great crowd of people, drew up the chests of tea from the holds, 
and emptied their contents into the water. When the news of this act 
arrived in England, the indignant ministry resolved to punish the contuma- 
cious Bostonians, and for this purpose, introduced three bills into pariia- 

,, , __ ment, one of which shut up the port of Boston, and removed 
March, 1774. n 

the custom-house to Salem ; another virtually abrogated the 

charter of Massachusetts, by giving to the crown or to the governor the 

appointment of the Council and of all officers, and even the selection of 

juries, and by prohibiting town meetings from being held without the 

governor's consent ; and a third provided that persons accused of mur- 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 361 

der might be sent to England for trial. These bills were strenuously 
opposed by Fox, Burke, Barre, and Dunning, but were carried by ma- 
jorities of more than four to one. Another law provided for the quar- 
tering of troops in America. Four more regiments were sent to Boston, 
so that the town was now strongly garrisoned ; and Gen. Gage being ap- 
pointed governor, in place of Hutchinson, the people of the province 
were virtually placed under military law. The Quebec Act passed at 
the same session, for the purpose of preventing Canada from taking part 
with the other Colonies, extended the boundaries of that province to the 
Ohio and the Mississippi, established the old French law in all judicial 
proceedings, and secured to the Catholic Church there the enjoyment 
of all its lands and revenues. A short time before, as if the feelings 
of the people of Massachusetts had not been sufficiently irritated, 
their agent in London, Dr. Franklin, was made the object of an in- 
decent and scurrilous invective before the Privy Council by the Soli- 
citor General, Wedderburn, the avowed intention being to insult him and 
his constituents. He was charged with having transmitted to Massachu- 
setts certain letters, written by some officers of the crown in that province, 
on public subjects, to their friends in office in England, which letters had 
been given to Franklin by some person who had obtained them by strata- 
gem or unfair means. But before making this charge, the ministers 
themselves had repeatedly intercepted the letters of Franklin and other 
Colonial agents, and read them. 

§ 492. The passage of the Boston Port Bill was the virtual commence- 
ment of the American Revolution, though a collision with arms did not 
take place till another year had elapsed. The agreements to import no 
more British goods, and to abstain from the consumption of them, were 
renewed with greater solemnity and strictness than before. Another 
general Congress was called by Massachusetts, to meet at Philadelphia 
in September ; and committees of correspondence were instituted, to 
render the action of the different Colonies harmonious, and to keep 
them advised of each other's proceedings. Closing the harbor had de- 
prived the people of Boston of their usual means of livelihood ; but 
Salem and Marblehead generously tendered them the use of their wharves, 
and subscriptions for the more indigent were obtained all over the coun- 
try. The Congress met at the appointed time and place, and twelve 
Colonies were represented in it, only Georgia sending no delegates. 
Among the members were the two Adamses from Massachusetts, and 
"Washington and Patrick Henry from Virginia. Memorials and ad- 
dresses were sent forth, as by the former assembly ; and the tone of these 
papers was naturally firmer and more decisive than on the former occa- 
sion, though it was still moderate. A dignified and eloquent Address to 
the People of Great Britain, written by Mr. Jay, was much admired. 
The Declaration of Colonial Rights was precise and comprehensive, and 
31 



362 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

it included a protest against the employment of a standing army in the 
Colonies without their consent. Professions were made of perfect loyalty 
to the king, and of great solicitude for the restoration of former harmony 
with Great Britain ; and, from a majority of the delegates, these profes- 
sions were undoubtedly sincere. After a session of eight weeks, the dele- 
gates separated, having first recommended that another Congress should 
mcQt in the ensuing May, if the difficulties with England were not previ- 
ously adjusted. 

§ 493. In Massachusetts, hostilities seemed to be on the point of break- 
ing out. Governor Gage prorogued the General Court before it had 
come together ; but the membei's met at Salem, in spite of the proroga- 
tion, organized themselves into a jDrovincial congress, chose John Han- 
cock for their president, and proceeded to business. In an address to 
the governor, they protested against the presence of British troops and 
the erection of the fortifications in Boston. They appointed a committee 
of safety, to take measures for the defence of the province, and another 
committee to obtain provisions and military stores. They forbade the 
payment of any more money to the late treasurer, and ordered all taxes 
to be collected by an officer whom they had appointed. Three generals 
were commissioned by them, to take the command of the militia, who 
were organized and disciplined with much diligence. Gage issued coun- 
ter orders and proclamations, but no one out of the range of his soldiers' 
muskets listened to them. His power was limited to Boston, which he 
held by a considerable military force, and had carefully fortified ; but the 
people throughout Massachusetts rendered strict and cheerful obedience 
to the provincial congress. Later in the year, 12,000 '-minute men" 
were enrolled, being volunteers from the militia, who pledged themselves 
to be ready for service at a minute's notice. Minute men were also en- 
rolled in the other New England colonies, where, also, measures were 
taken to procure artillery and military stores. 

§ 494. A striking peculiarity of the early part of the contest was the 
hearty and spontaneous cooperation of the larger and smaller towns 
throughout New England. The movement did not begin in a conspiracy 
first organized in the metropolis, and gradually diff'used, by the action of 
a secret society, throughout the land. In fact, there was no secrecy, no 
conspiracy, in the case. The opposition to the offensive acts of parlia- 
ment was open and avowed from the first ; it was manifested with as much 
spirit in little villages — in such places as Hingham, Bedford, Concord, 
and Danvers — as in Boston. The common people, the farmers and 
mechanics, of these httle communities acted in concert with the only 
authorities whom they were wont to recognize, — with their own select^ 
men. They held town meetings, in which they concerted measures of 
defence, and passed resolutions declaratory of their opinions and their 
rights, and expressing sympathy with the people of Boston. Having 



* THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 363 

made their rude military preparations, tbey waited patiently, with arms 
in their hands, for the first act of aggression on the part of the British. 
From the commencement of the difficulties, their attitude was strictly a 
defensive one ; they waited till the first blow should be struck by their 
opponents. They were not entirely unanimous ; in most of the towns, 
there were individuals known to favor the cause of the crown. But these 
persons were watched with great vigilance, and whenever their move- 
ments became suspicious, they were seized and placed in custody. There 
were some popular outbreaks ; but the mob did not seize obnoxious per- 
sons, and hang them up to a lamp post, or to the next tree, and then 
make targets of their bodies. In a few instances, the houses of known 
Tories were roughly visited, and their furniture was injured or destroyed ; 
but the greatest violence ever done to their persons was to tar and fea- 
ther them. And even these outrages were discountenanced or sharply 
reproved by the most influential patriots. The machinery of popular 
agitation on a large scale had not then been invented. The people con- 
sequently manifested but little enthusiasm ; but they adhered to their 
purpose with a cool and dogged determination, and an unflinching forti- 
tude, which bore them triumphantly through the long struggle. Other 
wars, before and since, have been waged for the people, and in the name 
of the people ; but the American revolution was the first war actually 
waged hy the people, that is recorded in history. Because town and coun- 
try acted heartily together, neither absolutely taking the lead, and nei- 
ther being wholly dependent on the other, the occupation of Boston by 
the British was no greater detriment to the patriot cause than if the 
troops had been stationed anywhere else in the province. The object 
was to get rid of them altogether ; and in their measures for obtaining 
this end, the people were as careful to keep law and justice on their side 
as to provide for defence against unprovoked aggression. The Port Bill 
went into operation in June, 1774, and the battle of Lexington was not 
fought till the following April. During the intervening months, the atti- 
tude of the whole people was calm and watchful ; they did not collect 
together in large bodies, they made no menacing demonstrations, but 
waited patiently till their opponents should commit the first overt act of 
hostility. 

§ 495. It was the firing of the king's troops on Lexington common 
. ., .»..- which rang the alarm bell of the revolution, and the hitherto 

-adviI i9iTTd 

seemingly quiescent Colony burst at once into a flame. This 
event took place at four o'clock in the morning ; and before noon, the hills 
and roads were alive with "minute men," hurrying from all quarters 
to the scene of conflict. General Gage had sent out Colonel Smith, 
the night before, with 800 men, to destroy some military stores which 
the patriots had collected at Concord. On arriving at Lexington, Colonel 
Smith found a company of " minute men" collected on the common, who 



364 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

were ordered to disperse, and almost at the same moment, were fired upon 
by the British, who killed or wounded eighteen of them. A few shots 
were fired in return, and the king's troops then passed on to Concord, 
where they destroyed a few stores, were attacked by the provincials, and 
commenced their retreat to Boston about noon. But the minute men 
v.-ere now rapidly coming up from the neighboring towns, and each com- 
pany, as it arrived, Avithout waiting for orders, or stopping to concert 
action with those already on the field, took the best position it could find 
for annoying the enemy, and opened its fire. The woods and stone walls 
on each side of the road were lined with sharp shooters, who availed 
themselves of every advantage of the ground as skilfully as if they had 
been directed by an able general. When the British, on their retreat, 
had reached Lexington, they were met by a reinforcement of 1,200 men, 
without which they would probably have been cut oflf. But as soon as 
they resumed their march, they were again attacked, and the affair con- 
tinued as it had begun, each company of the rustic soldiery finding its 
own station and fighting on its own hook. The action ended only when 
the harassed king's ti-oops reached Charlestown, where they found safety 
under the guns of their shipping. They lost about 270 in killed, wounded, 
and missing, while the American loss was but 93. 

§ 496. The manner in which this battle was fought was a type of the 
whole contest in New England, from the time when the tea was destroyed 
till Boston was evacuated. It is the most striking, perhaps the only com- 
plete, instance which all history affords, of the whole population of a coun- 
try, self-moved and self-governed, acting together with great unanimity and 
vigor, yet acting patiently, prudently, and with even a punctilious regard 
for the laws, while their excitment was intense, and while they were 
bravely defying a powerful empire, and setting at nought an authority, 
which, when exercised within the bounds of justice, they and their fathers 
had always implicitly, and even lovingly, recognized. The first action 
of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, after the battle of Lexington, 
was characteristic of the men and the times. They appointed a commit- 
tee to take the depositions of those who were present, in order to prove 
that the British fired first. If they had been conducting a lawsuit about 
the title to a farm, they could not have been more anxious to collect testi- 
mony, and show that " the law " was on their side. Most of the resolu- 
tions which they passed at this period were accompanied by formidable 
preambles, in which the justice and legality of the measure proposed were 
demonstrated at length, though often with more earnestness than logic. 
The time for action had now arrived, and it soon appeared that the spirit 
which the people had shown at Lexington was no transient feeling.- 
Within a few days, an army of about 16,000 men had come together, and 
the siege of Boston was begun. This, again, was a spontaneous and un- 
concerted movement ; they assembled before preparations were made for 



THE AMEAICAN REVOLUTION. 365 

them, before a commander-in-chief had been appointed, or any plan of 
action formed. Rhode Island and Connecticut retained the control of 
their own troops, and the care of providing them with arms and suste- 
nance, mei'ely instructing them to cooperate with the Massachusetts army. 
But for the excellent spirit of the men, the army would have been mere- 
ly an armed mob. But the ranks were filled with steady farmers and 
mechanics, who were brought thither by their attachment to the cause, 
and who needed little discipline to keep them in oi'der. 

§ 497. Ammunition and artillery were yet wanting, though great ex- 
ertions had been made to obtain military stores. But this want was par- 
tially supplied by an enterprise of the " Green Mountain Boys," as the 
inhabitants of the country which is now the State of Vermont were then 
called. It was known that the fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
had but slender garrisons and were imperfectly guarded. Ethan Allen 
and Seth Warner, who commanded some armed volunteers in that region, 

undertook upon their own responsibility to take these forts by 
May, 1775. . :J , i -, m , , -■ • ^ ., 

surprise, and they succeeded, iwo hundred pieces of artil- 
lery and a considerable supply of powder were thus obtained for the 
camp near Boston. The British army at that place had been reinforced, 
and now amounted to 10,000 men, under Generals Howe, Clinton, and 
Burgoyne. To straiten their quarters, Col. Prescott was sent, with about 
a thousand men from the American army, to throw up an entrenchment 
on Bunker's Hill in Charlestown. A small redoubt was constructed 

there in the night time, on which, as soon as it w^as discovered 

in the morning, the English ships in the harbor opened their 
fire. This produced but little effect ; and the reinforcements sent to 
Prescott during the forenoon enabled him to throw up an imperfect breast- 
work, and other slight fortifications outside of the redoubt. Generals 
Putnam, Pomeroy, and Warren joined him at this time, but did not take 
the command out of his hands. Three thousand men were sent over at 
noon from Boston, led by Howe and Pigot, to take the hill by assault. 
They advanced bravely, but the fire of the Americans was so close and 
well-sustained, that the British wavered, and fell back in great disorder. 
Gage then ordered the village of Charlestown, which was near the foot of 
the hill, to be set on fire, and while the flames were raging, the troops again 
moved forward. Again, as they approached the redoubt, the murderous 
fire of the Americans, many of whom were practised marksmen, burst 
forth, and again the assailants were driven back to the landing place. 
They formed and advanced a third time, and as the ammunition of the 
Americans was now nearly spent, they succeeded in getting possession of 
the hill. But their opponents retired in a body, and were not pursued, 
though they suffered much from the fire of the shipping in their retreat. 
The victory of Howe might well be considered a defeat, for he lost over 
a thousand men in killed and wounded, while the American loss was not 

31* 



366 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

half as great. But Gen. Warren was among the slain. The battle was 
as characteristic as that of Lexington ; a Colonel commanded, and three 
Generals either served under him, or acted independently in directing 
the troops. The result was very encouraging to the Americans, as it 
proved that their raw levies were capable of waging a desperate conflict 
with regular troops. 

§ 498. Congress had again assembled at Philadelphia, at the appointed 
time, and it began to exercise all the functions of a govern- 
ment, though there was no formal union of the Colonies, and 
the cheerful acquiescence of the people was the only basis of its authority. 
But the delegates were not yet prepared for a total rupture with England ; 
they voted to send another petition to the king, and an address to the people 
of Great Britain, in which they declared that they did not intend to throw 
off their allegiance, and professed an anxious desire for peace. At the 
same time, they resolved to put the country in a state of defence, and to 
complete the organization of an army. George Washington, a delegate 
from Virginia, was chosen commander-in-chief, the members from New Eng- 
land heartily concurring in his nomination, from their wish to secure the co- 
operation of the southern Colonies. Ward, Lee, Schuyler, and Putnam were 
commissioned as major-generals, and ten brigadiers were appointed, among 
whom were Gates, Greene, Montgomery, and Sullivan. Most of these 
officers had seen service in the Fi'enchand Indian wars. Bills of credit, 
or paper money, were issued to the amount of three millions of dollars ; 
a post-office department was organized, and a committee was appointed to 
secure, if possible, the neutrality of the Lidians. Massachusetts asked 
the advice of Congress, in reference to its form of government ; and it 
was advised to establish a provisional government, that should conform as 
nearly as possible to the charter. The governors of most of the Colonies 
had now either abandoned their posts, or were cooperating with the ene- 
mies of the country ; and the direction of affiiirs had generally fallen into 
the hands either of the most numerous representative body under the old 
organization, or of such an assembly created for the occasion. It may be 
observed here, by anticipation, that new constitutions of government were 
established by all the Colonies, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
during the progress of the war. New Hampshire formed such a consti- 
tution in 1775 ; New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina, in 1776, — the first three be- 
fore the Declaration of Independence ; Georgia and New York, in 1777 ; 
Massachusetts, in 1780. The forms of government thus established were 
not arbitrary and novel. They supplied omissions, it is true ; but they 
made no unnecessary innovations. They were the old forms of polity, 
adopted by the first settlers, or created for them by charter, with such 
modifications only as were rendered necessary by the transition from a 
state of partial, to one of total, independence. Connecticut and Rhode 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION", 867 

Island did not find it necessary to make any change ; their charters were 
so Hberal that the peoj^le, in fact, had always chosen all their own officers, 
and enacted all their own laws ; and under these charters, the government 
continued to be administered for nearly half a century after the Revo- 
lution. 

§ 499. Washington assumed the command of the army before Boston 
about a fortnight after the battle of Bunker Hill, and immediately en- 
deavored to improve its organization and discipline, and to obtain supplies 
of arms and military stores. The troops at first consisted entirely of 
volunteers, and so many of these left and went home after a short stay, 
that it was feared the camp would be deserted. An attempt was now 
made to enlist soldiers for definite periods, to form them into regiments, and 
accustom them to discipline and the use of their arms. The most pressing 
want was that of powder, of which there was not enough to furnish nine 
rounds to a man, and the whole supply in the country was so inadequate 
that active operations could not be undertaken for some months. At- 
tempts were made to establish manufactories of saltpetre and to import 
powder and lead from the West Indies ; and a small supply of military 
stores was obtained from captured vessels. The patience and firmness of 
the commander-in-chief were severely taxed by the many discouraging 
circumstances of his position, at the head of a motley collection of troops, 
with insufficient means of paying them and of providing many necessa- 
ries of war. Reserved and dignified in his demeanor, inflexible in pur- 
pose, circumspect and yet enterprising in his plans, industrious and me- 
thodical in business, he united the highest qualifications for the elevated 
post which he was called to fill. His equanimity was seldom rufiled, 
and no failures or disasters could dishearten him or paralyze his energies. 
A keen judge of character and qualifications, he was generally fortunate 
in selecting his agents and giving his confidence. Under his direction, 
and in spite of the most adverse circumstances, the raw levies were gra- 
dually converted into disciplined and effective troops, and the efforts of an 
enemy greatly superior in means and equipment were successfully foiled. 

§ 500. Congress had projected an expedition against Canada, in the 

hope of obtaining the sympathy and aid of the French inhabitants of that 

province, or perhaps of inducing them to unite with the other Colonies in 

resistance to the British ministry. Schuyler and Montgomery, at the 

head of a small body of troops, advanced by way of Lake 
August, 1775. ^, , . . -^^ . , ., » , , . , , 

Champlam agamst Montreal, whilst Arnold, with about a 

thousand men, was detached from the camp before Boston, to ascend the 
Kennebec river, and then make his way through the wilderness to the 
banks of the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec. Schuyler being prevented 
by illness from advancing farther than St. John's on the Sorel, the com- 
mand devolved on Montgomery, who, after a few weeks' 
Novembers. . lo-r,,,, ■, ■, • ^r^ 

Siege, captured St. John s, and then advanced against Mon- 



368 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

treal, which was surrendered to him without resistance. Arnold's troops, 

after sufTering great hardships from exposure and want of food while 

passing through a wild and uninhabited region, reached the southern 

_ bank of the St. Lawrence, where they were joined by Mont- 

December 1. ^ ^ J 'I J 

gomery, who came down the river to meet them. Their 
united forces hardly exceeded a thousand men, while Carleton, the Bri- 
tish commander, by landing the sailors and organizing the citizens into 
military companies, had garrisoned Quebec with 1,200. The artillery of 
the Americans not being sufficient to make any impression on the works, 
they resolved to attempt to carry the place by assault. Under cover of 

_ a snow-storm, the men advanced to the attack with great gal- 

December si. , ■,/.-,,. . , , , T,x 

Jantry, and forced their way into the lower town ; but Mont- 
gomery was killed, Arnold's leg Avas broken by a musket ball, and after 
some desperate fighting, the party in the streets found themselves sur- 
rounded and were obliged to surrender, Arnold, with about 600 men, 
retreated a few miles up the river, and there kept up the blockade of 
Quebec through the winter. Reinforcements were sent to him ; but after 
the spring opened, a large body of British troops arrived at Quebec, and 
the Americans were forced to retire, first to Montreal, and afterwards to 
St. John's. 

§ 501. Howe's army in Boston, having learned caution from the battle 
of Bunker Hill, made no attempt at offensive operations during the 
autumn and winter ; and the want of cannon and powder in the Ameri- 
can camp prevented Washington from attacking them. But through the 
great exertions of Colonel Ivnox, over fifty pieces of artillery were 
drajTized on sleds, over the frozen lake and the snow, from Crown Point 
and Ticonderoga ; and active measures were then adopted to drive the 
British out of the place. On the evening of the 4th of March, 
the attention of the enemy being drawn by a brisk cannonade 
to the opposite quarter, a large body of troops secretly took possession 
of Dorchester heights, and erected a line of fortifications there which 
commanded the harbor and the town. The English general made imme- 
diate preparation to attack these works ; but a furious storm of wind and 
rain, that prevailed for two days, prevented the troops from crossing in 
boats to Dorchester, and wdien this had ceased, the intrenchments seemed 
too strong to be forced. General Howe consequently resolved to evacu- 
ate the town; and on the 17th, the fleet sailed, carrying off the whole 
army, and about one thousand inhabitants of the place and its vicinity 
who adhered' to the king's cause. The recovery of Boston caused great 
rejoicing throughout the country ; the thanks of Congress were voted to 
the general and his army, and a gold medal was ordered to be struck in 
commemoration of the event. After a delay of a few days, Washington 
marched with the main body of the army to New York. The Loyalists, 
or Tories, as the favorers of the British cause were called, were nume- 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 369 

rous in that place and its neigliborhood, and for this reason, among others, 
it was supposed that Howe would carry his army thither. In reality, the 
British troops sailed for Halifax, where they remained inactive till the 
end of June, and then, after receiving large reinforcements, proceeded 
to New York. 

§ 502. A year had now elapsed since the battle of Lexington ; it had 
been passed in active hostilities, the exasperation of both parties had in- 
creased, and there seemed to be no longer any hope of a reconciliation 
with England. Lord North's ministry, supported by the obstinacy of the 
king and by a large majority in both houses of Parliament, evinced no 
disposition to change its policy ; on the contrary, treaties had been formed 
Avith sevei'al of the minor powers of Germany, in virtue of which about 
17,000 Hessians, Waldeckers, and Hanoverians were collected by crafty 
recruiting officers, and hired out to England for the purpose of putting 
down the rebellion in America. Of course, the news that these merce- 
naries were to be employed greatly increased the irritation of the Colo- 
nies. Thomas Paine, a very coarse but vigorous writer, published his 
famous pamphlet, called " Common Sense," to prove that a final separa- 
tion from England was inevitable and ought not to be delayed. "Written 
in an eminently popular style, it had an immense circulation, and was of 
great service in preparing the minds of the people for independence. A 
proposition to dissolve all connection Avith Great Britain was first intro- 
duced in Congress by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and was warmly 
supported by John Adams and other members from New England. But 
it was not carried without difficulty; New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, and South Carolina hesitated. Indeed, the legislatures of the two 
former Colonies had expressly instructed their representatives in Congress 
to vote against it. But the tide of popular opinion now set strongly 
towards independence, and the waverers were carried along with it, in 
spite of their efibi'ts. The recusant Colonies recalled their instructions, 
and on the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, written 
by Thomas Jefferson, and revised by a committee, of which John Adams 
and Dr. Franklin were members, was solemnly adopted in Congress by a 
vote of the whole Thirteen States. This memorable Declaration asserts 
in grave and dignified language the right of the people to institute, alter, 
or abolish any form of government ; to justify the exercise of this right 
at the present time, it enumerates at length the wrongs which had been 
inflicted on the Colonies by the king of Great Britain, and concludes that 
he is no longer worthy to be the ruler of a free people ; and it ends Avith 
the formal assertion, that " these United Colonies are, and of right ought 
to be, free and independent States, and that they are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British crown:" — in support of which declaration, the 
signers of the instrument mutually pledge to each other their lives, their 
fortunes, and their sacred honor. 



370 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

§ 503. The progress of the contest had been watched with great atten- 
tion on the Continent of Europe, where the efforts of the Americans 
were naturally regarded with tavor and sympathy, partly out of jealousy 
of England, but still more from the enthusiasm which a gallant contest 
for freedom always awakens in the hearts of the people. Among the 
French particularly, this feeling was very strong, as the success of the 
patriots would humiliate and weaken the haughty rival that had recently 
triumphed over France, and deprived her of nearly all her colonial domi- 
nion. Congress had previously appointed a " Committee of Secret Cor- 
respondence," to keep up intercourse with the friends of the cause in 
various parts of Europe ; and now that the United States had become an 
independent power, it seemed proper to extend this intercourse, and to 
establish diplomatic relations with other governments. Three commis- 
sioners, of whom Dr. Franklin was one, were sent to Paris, and Arthur 
Lee was deputed by them to visit Prussia and Spain. These agents 
were not formally received at court, for no European power was yet pre- 
pared for war with England. But the French ministers treated them 
with much courtesy, and agreed to furnish the Americans with secret 
supplies of money, arms, and military stores, to a considerable amount. 
Many shipments were consequently made, and the aid thus received was 
very seasonable. The appearance of Dr. Franklin, with bis high repu- 
tation as a philosopher, his plain garb, and agreeable manners, as an 
envoy from the combatants for freedom in the New Woidd, created a 
great sensation among the excitable people of Paris. Honors and atten- 
tions of all kinds were lavished upon him. " Men imagined," says La- 
cretelle, " that they saw in him a sage of antiquity, come back to give 
austere lessons and generous examples to the moderns. They personified 
in him the republic of which he was the representative and the legislator." 
The young and wealthy Marquis of Lafayette, inspired with a noble 
enthusiasm, crossed the ocean to hazard life and property in the cause of 
American freedom. Some Germans, also, among whom Kalb and Steu- 
ben, were best known, and the gallant Pole, Kosciuzko, with a number 
of volunteers from other nations, went to the aid of the Americans. 

§ 504. The campaign of 1776 was very disastrous to the American 
arms, and but for the surpassing fortitude and magnanimity of their great 
military leader, it would have been ruinous to the cause. Washington's 
army was vei'y weak when it arrived in New York ; several regiments had 
been left behind to garrison Boston, and others were detached to strengthen 
the northern army, then lying near Montreal. Unfortunately, also, the 
men had been enlisted for very short periods, owing to the uncertainty 
how Ion"- the Avar would continue; and now, when their services were 
most wanted, and they had been trained and disciplined, whole regiments 
had to be disbanded and sent home, and their places were taken by raw 
recruits. Frequent drafts were made from the mihtia, to meet pressing 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 371 

emergencies ; but these raw troops could not be depended upon for effi- 
cient service. The Continental troops under Washington at New York 
did not number more than 8,000, while the British army, which Howe 
led thither in June, including the German mercenaries, amounted to 
24,000, Among them were the troops lately employed against Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, where they had attempted to land, but the fleet 
had been driven off by the heavy fire from the forts. The fortifications at 
New York did not prove so formidable, as the Bi-itish vessels passed 
them without damage, and entered the Hudson river. Howe landed most 
of his troops on Long Island, where the Tories were very numerous, and 
marched to attack the Americans, who were in an entrenched camp at 
the western end of the island, opposite New York. A battle followed, in 
which the British army succeeded in gaining the rear of the Americans 
by an unguarded road, and totally defeated them, taking over a thousand 
prisoners. The remainder of the army secretly retreated, on the second 
night after the battle, from Long Island to New York. Leaving a gar- 
rison in the town, Washington placed the body of the troops on Haerlem 
heights, a strong position at the northward. But the garrison was soon 
obliged with loss to quit New York, as the place was not tenable except 
by a large force, and even the troops on the heights behaved so ill that a 
farther retreat became necessary. Discouragement was now very gene- 
ral ; the militia deserted by companies, and the Continentals, as the regu- 
lar troops were called, began to follow their example. Washington 
adopted the only system of warfare which was practicable under these 
gloomy circumstances ; he resolved to risk no general engagement, to 
encamp only in strong positions, to weary out the enemy by frequent 

marches, and not to meet them except in skirmishes. A par- 
October 28. . , .• - , ^,„ . „, f , , ■, . . 

tial action was lought at Vv hite Flams without any decisive 

result, and most of the Americans were then withdrawn to the western 
shore of the Hudson, as an invasion of New Jersey was threatened. A 
large garrison was left in Fort Washington, on New York island, about 
ten miles above the city ; but the British attacked it before the fortifica- 
tions were completed, and the commander was obliged to capitulate, giv- 
ing up the place and stores, and over 2,000 prisoners. The enemy then 
crossed the Hudson in force, and Washington was obliged to abandon 
Fort Lee, on the Jersey shore, with a great quantity of baggage and 
artillery. He then retreated rapidly southward through New Jersey as 
far as Trenton, where, for safety, the army crossed the Delaware into 
Pennsylvania. At this gloomy period for the American cause. Sir Wil- 
liam Howe issued a proclamation, offering pardon to all who would return 
to their allegiance within sixty days, and commanding all persons who 
had taken up arms, and all congresses and associations to desist from 
their treasonable proceedings and give,up their usurped authority. Many 
individuals, among whom were two former members of Congress, were 



372 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

weak enough to accept (he proposal. As the British army approached 
PhiLidelphia, Congress adjourned to Baltimore, having first granted to 
the commander-in-chief ahuost dictatorial power. 

§ 505. Washington perceived that some bold stroke was necessary to 
revive the sjiii-its of his countrymen. Some reinforcements had joined 
him, and the English army had gone into winter-quarters, being stationed 
in detacliments at several places in New Jersey. On Christmas night, at 
the head of 2,500 men, he recrossed the Delaware with great ditficulty, 
as the river was full of floating ice, surprised a body of Hessians in Tren- 
ton, took 900 prisoners and then returned to his former position with 
only a trifling loss. A week afterwards, he reciccupied Trenton with a lar- 
ger force ; but Lord Cornwallis came up to meet him with a large portion 
of the British army, and it appeared too hazardous either to stand an en- 
gagement, or retreat when the enemy were so near. Washington devised 
a manoeuvre which was completely successful. Leaving the watch fires 
burning in the deserted camp, the troops were led by a circuitous route 
into the rear of the British, and then conducted to Princeton, where they 
fell unexpectedly upon three regiments that were stationed there, drove 
them out of the town with great loss, and took 300 prisoners. Cornwal- 
lis heard the firing in his rear, and divining the cause, hurried off in pur- 
suit ; but before he could overtake the Americans, they were encamped 
on unassailable ground at Morristown. These exploits taught Sir William 
Howe to respect an opponent whom he had begun to contemn ; and he 
therefore withdrew his troops from the greater part of New Jersey, and 
concentrated them round New York. Washington stationed his army 
at Morristown, Princeton, and in the Highlands on the Hudson ; and 
the next six months were spent in organizing it anew, and reducing it to 
discipline. The British had taken possession of the southern part of 
Rhode Island, and had surprised and captured Gen. Lee. On the other 
hand, privateers and national cruisers had been fitted out in the ports 
of Massachusetts, and had captured many valuable British ships, which 
were carried to the West Indies and the harbors of continental Europe, 
and sold. 

§ 50G. The next year was the turning point, or critical period, of the 
war. It was checkered by good and evil fortune. It was 
a period of much financial difficulty and great suffering both 
by the army and the people ; but towards its close, the unexpected {\nd 
great success of the American arms at the north really decided the fate 
of the contest, and showed that the attempt of Great Britain to reduce 
the Colonies by force to their former allegiance was a hopeless undertak- 
ing. About the end of May, the American army, now much strength- 
ened by recruits, left its winter quarters, and took a strong position at 
Middletown. Howe manoeuvred for some time, in the hope of inducing 
or compelling it to fight a battle on equal ground. But finding that 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 373 

Washington was too cautious to run this hazard, he suddenly embarked 
his army on board the fleet, and carried it round to the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay, where he handed and began his march for Philadelphia. He 
was obliged to take this route, as the American fortifications on the Dela- 
ware made it too hazardous for the fleet to ascend that river. Anxious 
to save the city which was the seat of Congress and was regarded in some 
measure as the capital of the country, Washington marched hurriedly south- 
ward to intercept him. After passing through Philadelpliia, he first at- 
tempted to check the progress of the enemy at Brandywine, where a creek, 
everywhere fordable, guarded the front of the American position. The Bri- 
September 11. *^^^ Passed this stream in two divisions, at considerable distance 
from each other ; and Washington's army being thus attacked 
in front and on the flank, some regiments broke and fled, and the rest were 
forced to retreat in some disorder. The Americans again offered battle five 
days afterwards, but a violent storm interrupted the engagement almost 
as soon as it began. The hope of saving Philadelphia atos then aban- 
doned ; Congress adjourned to Lancaster, the magazines and public 
stores were removed, and Howe entered the city on the 25th, leaving 
the bulk of his army ten miles off, at Germantown. It was a barren 
conquest ; experience was now teaching the British that they could hold 
no more ground in America than what they actually occupied with their 
troops ; and these were not to be too much scattered, or they were liable 
to be cut off in detail. To raise the sinking spirits of his men, Washing- 
ton planned a surprise of the British army in Germantown. The enter- 
October 4. P""^^^ seemed successful at first ; but the troops got separa- 
ted from each other, in the darkness of the morning, by the 
inequalities of the ground, a panic seized upon some, and the whole were 
then driven to make a disorderly retreat. Rightly deeming that Wash- 
ington could not soon make another attack after this repulse, Howe re- 
solved to attack the forts on the Delaware, in order to establish com- 
munication with his fleet, which had not yet been able to pass up the 
river. Count Donop, with 1,200 Hessians, assaulted the post at Red 
October 22. -^^"^' ^^ **'^ J'^^'^^J ^^ore, but fell in the attempt, and his 
men were driven off with great slaughter ; and of the ships 
which assailed Fort Miflen, on an island in the Delaware, a sixty-four 
was blown up, a frigate was burned, and the others were much injured 
and compelled to retire. The enemy then erected land-batteries, which 
kept up so heavy a fire that the fortifications were ruined, and the gar- 
rison was withdrawn. Red Bank was also evacuated, and the Dela- 
ware Avas thus opened to the British fleet. 

§ 507. But the most important military operations of this year took 
place at the north. Gen. Burgoyne received the command in Canada, 
with a finely appointed army of 10,000 men, and was instructed to force 
his way down Lake Champlain, and then cross to Albany, and descend 

32 



374 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

the Hudson, to join the British forces in New York. This plan, if exe- 
cuted, would have cut off New England from the other Colonies, and 
have rendered the subjugation of the Americans extremely probable. 
And there was great danger for a time that it would be executed. 
Burgoyne summoned the Indians to his standard, and easily drove 
the feeble and disorganized army of St. Clair before him, captured 
Ticonderoga and Skenesborough, and jsrepared to force his way 
thi'ough the wilderness, from the head of the lake to the Hud- 
son. St. Clair had brought a poor remnant of his army to join Schuyler 
at Fort Edward, on the Hudson ; but their united forces did not number 
5,000, most of them were militia, and both ammunition and provisions 
were wanting. The news of the loss of Ticonderoga and the rapid pro- 
gress of Burgoyne created great consternation ; the militia of New Eng- 
land came forward readily, and in considerable numbers, to sti'engthen 
the northern army, which also received some detachments from the posts 
in the Highlands. Schuyler was superseded by Gen. Gates, and under 
him were placed Arnold, Morgan, Lincoln, and others, who were among 
the best officers in the army. Burgoyne had succeeded in reaching the 
Hudson after immense labor and fatigue, but he found that difficulties were 
now beginning to thicken around him. He had sent out a strong detach- 
ment of regular troops, Tories, and Indians, to his right, to turn the alarm 
to the western frontier of New York, and lay siege to Fort Schuyler 
at the head of the Mohawk. Arnold was sent against him, and the fear 
of his approach caused so many of the Indians to desert, that St. Leger 
was compelled to raise the siege and retire so precipitately 
° " that most of his stores and baggage fell into the hands of the 

Americans. Another and stronger detachment was sent out to the left, 
under Col. Baum, to try the temper of the people and to obtain horses 

and provisions ; this was encountered, at Bennington, by some 
Au-^. 16. ^ .... . 

° New Hampshire militia and Green Mountain Boys, under 

Col. Stark, and totally defeated, most of the German soldiers being taken 

prisoners. Col. Breyman, who had been sent with 500 men to aid Baum, 

came up two hours after the battle was fought, was himself attacked by 

the victorious party, and obliged to make the best retreat he could, with 

the loss of all his baggage and artillery. Thus both of Burgoyne's wings 

were clipped, and he found himself at Saratoga, on the west side of the 

Hudson, in the heart of a difficult country, short of provisions, and with 

an enemy constantly increasing in numbers on all sides of him. He first 

tried an attack upon Gate's camp, upon Behmus's Heights, 

in his front ; and the result was a drawn battle, in which he 

lost 500 men, and gained not a single advantage. A party of Lincoln's 

militia had got into his rear, surprised the posts around Lake George, and 

besieged Ticonderoga, so that his communications were cut offi But he 

was encouraged to hold out, as a letter reached him from Clinton in New 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 375 

York, saying that the latterwas about to make an expedition up the Hud- 
son, which would operate as a diversion, and might reach Albany, so as 
to place Gates between two fires. The promise was kept, the passes of 
the Highlands were forced, and the British had proceeded as far norfli as 
Esopus, when they learned that they were too late, and found it prudent 
to return. Burgoyne offered battle again on the 7th of October, and his 
troops were defeated and driven back into his camp, his entrenchments 
in one quarter were forced, and a part of his artillery and ammu- 
nition were captured. His position was thus rendered untenable, and 
he secretly drew back in the night to a rising ground in the rear. Thence 
he retreated, two days afterwards, to Saratoga, and found that the diffi- 
culties of the country and the position of the American parties were such 
that he could go no further. He held out a week longer ; and then, his 
provisions being exhausted and his camp surrounded and hard 
pressed, he Avas obliged to capitulate. He had already lost 
about 4,000 men, and 5,642 others were now sux'rendered as pi'isoners of 
Avar, all his arms, baggage, and camp equipage also passing into the hands 
of the victors. The garrison of Ticonderoga, when they heard of this cala- 
mity, hastily retreated into Canada, and the Americans again took posses- 
sion of this renowned fortress. 

§ 508. Two days after the news arrived at Paris of the capture of 
Burgoyne and the battle of German town, the French ministry intimated 
to Dr. Franklin that they were Avilling to consider the project of a treaty 
of alliance with the American States. Two treaties Avere accordingly 
framed, in one of which France acknowledged the independ- 
' " ence of the vStates, and formed relations of amity and com- 
merce Avith them ; in the other, Avhich Avas to go into effect if Great 
Britain should make war upon France, the two contracting parties bound 
themselves to aid each other as good friends and allies, to maintain the 
sovereignty and independence of the American States, and not to make 
a truce or peace except by mutual consent. About the same time, the 
British ministry caused tAvo laAA's to be enacted, declaring that no tax 
should hereafter be imposed by parliament on the Colonies, and appoint- 
ing commissioners to treat AA'ith them on almost any terms short of absolute 
independence. The concession was ample, but it came too late ; Congress 
refused even to hold a conference Avith the commissioners before the 
British armies were withdraAvn and the independence of the country ac- 
knoAvledged. England therefore declared Avar against France, and pre- 
pared to keep up in America some yeai's longer a useless, expensive, and 
murderous conflict, in Avhich she had hardly a hope of ultimate success. 
The Colonists Avere indeed compelled to pay a heaA'y price for their free- 
dom. The public finances were in a deplorable state ; recruits could not 
be obtained except by enormous bounties, and the troops Avere but half 
fed and half clothed ; and the people generally Avere suffering from the 



376 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

interruption of trade and agriculture, and the scarcity of breadstuffs. 
There was hardly a family in the land to which the war had not already 
brought privation and bereavement. And yet the spirit of the people 
continued high ; they expected much from the French alliance, and, ex- 
cept among the Tories, hardly a wish was breathed for peace on any 
terras short of independence. For the army, which had passed the winter 
in miserable huts at Valley Forge, suffering from cold and disease, and to 
some extent also from hunger and nakedness, Washington set apart a day 
for rejoicing when the news of the treaty with France were received. 
Losses and hardships were then forgotten in the general exultation ; 
" every heart was filled with gratitude to the French king, and every 
mouth spoke his praise." 

§ o09. The quarters of the British army were now found to be too 
much extended ; and it was resolved to evacuate Philadelphia and retreat 
to New York. The American army, which had been reinforced in the 
spring, and somewhat trained and disciplined through the great efforts of 
Baron Steuben, a brave and skilful Prussian officer, hung upon their rear 
and gave them much trouble. A battle between them was fought at 

Monmouth, with indecisive results, though the British loss 
June 28. . , 

considerably exceeded that of the Americans. Many of the 

German soldiers, also, took the opportunity to desert. Count D'Estaing 
soon arrived with a powerful fleet, having 4,000 French soldiers on board, 
and a scheme for a combined attack on New York havins^ failed because 
the pilots would not conduct the heavier ships over the bar, an expedition 
against Newport was agreed upon, that place being held by Gen. Pigot, 
at the head of G,000 men. The fleet blockaded the harbor, and forced 
the English to sink some of their frigates; but the Conti- 
'^ ' nental troops and New England militia did not arrive soon 

enough to cooperate with the ships, which were compelled to put to sea 
by Lord Howe's fleet, and were also crippled by a storm. The under- 
taking was abandoned, and Gen. Sullivan had much difficulty in bringing 
off the American troops, as the British had received a large reinforcement. 
These were the only military operations on a large scale during the year ; 
though as the war was now prosecuted both by the British and the Tories 
in a less hopeful and more revengeful spirit, several predatory expeditions 
were sent out that did much wanton injury, and in some skirmishes no 
quarter was given, and acts of sickening barbarity Avere committed. 
Wyoming, a flourishing settlement in Pennsylvania, was desolated by an 
incursion of Indians and Tories, the male inhabitants were massacred, 
the houses burned, and the cattle killed or driven off. Some towns on 
the coast of Massachusetts were burned, and a heavy contribution was 
levied on a defenceless island. Li New York, Baylor's troop of dragoons 
were surprised, and the men bayonetted, under Gen. Gray's orders to 
give no quarter ; and the same fate befell the infantry of Pulaski's legion. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 377 

There was some excuse for the Tories in these proceedings ; their pro- 
perty had been very generally confiscated, they often had rough personal 
treatment, and on slight pretexts, some of them had been hanged. 

§ olO. During the next two years, the war was chiefly carried on by 
the British in the southern States, Avhere the population was more scat- 
tered and divided in opinion, and the country offered fewer means of de- 
fence. At the close of 1778, Savannah was taken by an expedition from 
New York, and another body of royal troops coming up from Florida, 
nearly completed the conquest of Georgia. Gen. Lincoln was sent to take 
the command in this department, and by great exertions he 
protected Charleston and South Carolina from the enemy till 
September, when D'Estaing, with a French fleet and 6,000 men, arrived 
on the coast, and the two armies in concert laid seige to Savannah. But 
as the French could remain but a short time, the attack was made prema- 
turely, and the besiegers were beaten off with great loss, the 
Oct. 9. . 

gallant Count Pulaski being among the slain. Gen. Mat- 
thews was sent from New York, with 2,500 men, on a plundering expe- 
dition to Virginia. He took possession of Portsmouth and 
Norfolk, burned some ships of war and many private vessels, 
and brought off a large quantity of tobacco, after destroying private pro- 
perty to the amount of two millions of dollars. At the north. Congress 
took measures to punish the Indians for the atrocities they had committed 
at Wyoming, and other places. Gen. Sullivan led an expedition of 
4,000 men into the heart of their country, in the western part of tbe 

State of New York, destroA^ed their villages, cut down their 
September. . • i , • , i 

fruit trees, and so devastated the region, that the miserable 

savages could attempt nothing more till the close of the war. Some 
British troops under Gen. Tryon paid a marauding visit to the Connecti- 
cut shore, plundered and burned several towns, and destroy- 
ed a large amount of property. About the only legitimate 
military exploits of the year, at the north, were the capture by the Bri- 
tish of Stony Point and Verplanck's Point on the Hudson, thus rendering 
the communication between New England and the Middle States more 
circuitous and difficult, and the recapture of Stony Point in a very gallant 
manner by the Americans under Gen. Wayne. 

§ 511. Spain had now joined the alliance against England, though 
J ^yyo with no very definite purpose, except the hope that, while the 
attention of the British ministry was occupied by so many 
enemies, she might regain possession of Gibraltar. For a short time, 
the united Fi'ench and Spanish fleet swept the British seas ; but it was soon 
compelled to go into harbor. The next yeai', 1780, added another Euro- 
pean power to the list of England's enemies, and brought her assumed 
empire of the seas into great danger. To check the maritime superior- 
ity of the British, who, during the war, had greatly disturbed the neutral 
32* 



378 THE MODERN EPOCn. 

trade at sea, and molested the ships of every country by an oppressive 
search for contraband goods, Catherine II. of Russia concluded an alli- 
ance with the several neutral powers, which should maintain the princi- 
ple of " free ships, free goods," and thus secure the trade of the neutral 
states on the coasts and in the harbors of either of the belligerent powers. 
The confederacy also declared that no blockade of any port should be 
deemed effectual, so as to exclude neutral vessels from entering it, if there 
were not an adequate naval force present to maintain the blockade and ren- 
der it very dangerous for any ship to attempt to enter. This neutral alli- 
ance was constituted successively by Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, 
Austria, Naples, and Portugal. But Ilolland, whose adherence was very 
important from her situation and maritime strength, hesitated so long that 
England got information of the project, and declared war against the 
Dutch before they could give in their adhesion at St. Petersburg. Hol- 
land thus disappeared from the list of the neutral powers, and the alli- 
ance was deprived of her aid towards accomplishing their great purpose. 
§ 512. A powerful British armament, under Clinton and Arbuthnot, 
appeared before Charleston in February, 1780, and laid siege to it, with 
a view to the ultimate conquest of the whole State. Gen. Lincoln's means 
of defence were very inadequate, and though he made every effort, he 
was compelled, after a resistance of 4.2 days, to surrender the city and 
give up his whole army as prisoners of war. The enemy then easily 
overran South Carolina ; and many of the inhabitants, to avoid the extre- 
mities of war, took " protections " from them, and thereby avowed them- 
selves to be British subjects. Lord Cornwallis was then left to command 
at the South, Avhile Clinton returned to New York. Congress appointed 
Gen. Gates to oppose the former, and by great exertions an army of 
4,000 men was collected for this purpose, mostly militia, who were ill 
fed and ill armed, and not at all disciplined. With the rash confidence 
inspired by his success against Burgoyne, Gates advanced hastily and 
with little precaution, was attacked under unfavorable cir- 
° ' cumstances by Cornwallis, near Camden, and his army so 
completely routed that not a fourth part of them could be again brought 
tof^ether. The southern States were thus rendered almost entirely de- 
fenceless, though the British for the present were not able to invade North 
Carolina from the want of supplies. Sumter and Marion, also, noted 
partizan officers, gave them great annoyance by collecting bands of irre- 
<i-ular troops, and waging a kind of guerilla warfare against their outposts 
and detachments. One motley collection of such troops, chiefly mounted 
backwoodsmen with their rifles, under Shelby and Sevier, intercepted 
Feriiuson, an active Loyalist, at the head of about 1,000 
Tories, at King's Mountain, and totally defeated him, taking 
most of his men prisoners, and hanging some of them as traitors. At the 
end of the year, Gen. Greene was sent to take Gates's place, and a small 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 379 

regular army was collected for him, which he led with consummate abili- 
ty. , At the north, a French fleet and army, the latter under Rochambeau, 
arrived at Newport, but were blockaded there by a superior British fleet, 
so that they accomplished nothing. Another remarkable incident of the 
year was the treason of Gen. Arnold, a very brave ofiicer, but dissolute, 
wayward, and extravagant, who sold himself to the British for £10,000 
and a general's commission, covenanting to give into their power, also. 
West Point and the other American fortresses in the Highlands. The 
conspiracy was detected just before the time fixed for its exe- 
p em r. ^y^j^^j^ Arnold succeeded in making his escape ; but Major 
Andre, a gallant English officer whom Clinton had sent to negotiate with 
him, was seized when in disguise within the American lines, and was 
tried and executed as a spy. The want of pay, and the impossibility of 
complying with the just demands of the soldiers, caused some Pennsylva- 
nia regiments, who were encamped near Morristown, to break out into open 
revolt. They were invited to join the British, as Arnold had done ; but 
they refused, and after the matter had been compromised by Congress, 
some of their grievances being redressed, they gave up the emissaries of 
the enemy, who were hanged as spies. Some New Jersey troops quickly 
followed this example of insubordination ; but their revolt was crushed 
with a strong hand, and a few of the ringleaders were executed. 

§ 513. The comparative ease with which Georgia and South Carolina 
had been subdued caused great efforts to be made, in 1781, for the con- 
quest of North Carolina and Virginia. In January of this year, the 
traitor Arnold was sent with 1,600 men, chiefly Tories, to plunder and 
devastate the country on the Chesapeake and the James river, in order 
to cripple the resources of the State ; and after he had accomplished this 
service, he was joined by Gen. Phillips, with 2,000 troops from New 
York. But thes» marauding expeditions did not help the British cause 
much ; they caused great misery, but they incensed the jieople so much 
that they lost all thoughts of acquiescence and submission, and made des- 
perate efforts to repulse the destroyers. The plan was, that Cornwallis 
should march north, to join Phillips and Arnold, their united forces being 
deemed sufficient to crush all opposition at the South. But Cornwallis 
had now an able and determined opponent in Greene, who gave him 
enough to do in the Carolinas. Half of Greene's force, under Morgan, 
who had been sent to put down the Tories in the west, encountered the 
British light troops under Tarleton, at the Cowpens, and gave them a 
signal defeat, killing or taking prisoners over 600 of them. Cornwallis 
instantly started off in great haste, to overtake and punish Morgan before 
he could rejoin his commander. But the activity of the Americans baffled 
him. Still the British general pushed on ; and Greene's whole force be- 
ing much inferior, he was obliged to make a rapid retreat into 
Virginia. He soon returned, however, with some reinforce- 



880 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

ments, and offered battle at Guilford Court House, where Cornwallis in- 
deed defeated him, but the victory was equivalent to a defeat. The Bri- 
tish loss was greater than the American, and Cornwallis was obliged to 
retire to Wilmington, near the sea. Greene pursued him for a while, and 
then took the bold step of marching directly into South Carolina, which 
had been left in charge of Lord Rawdon with a small force. Finding it 
impossible to overtake him, Cornwallis imitated his bold policy by march- 
ing north, to join the king's troops in Virginia. Greene and Eawdon came 
in conflict with each other at Hobkirk's Hill, and the former 
^" "' was again defeated, though his loss was no greater than the 

enemy's, and the advantages of the encounter were all on his side. Lee 
and Marion, with other partizan officers, encouraged by his presence, 
roused the inhabitants to arms, nearly all the British posts in the upper 
country Avere captured or abandoned, and the larger part of South Caro- 
lina was restored to the Americans. Their irritated opponents shot as 
deserters all whom they captured in arms that had once accepted British 
protection ; among these victims was Colonel Hayne, an eminent citizen 
of Charleston, whose fate caused much sorrow and indignation. The 
conflict on both sides had all the aggravated features of a civil war. 

§ 514. The arrival of a powerful fleet under Count De Grasse having 
given the French a temporary superiority at sea, the French forces at 
Newport were released, and an attack upon the British in New York was 
projected for the combined army of Washington and Rochambeau. But this 
came to be thought an enterprise beyond their strength, and it was resolved 
in preference to strike a blow at Cornwallis at Virginia. That enter- 
prising general, after vainly endeavoring to overtake and crush the small 
American force commanded by Lafiiyette, had retired to Yorktown, a 
peninsula at the mouth of York river, where he had strongly intrenched 
himself at the head of 8,000 men. Here he was blockaded by De 
Grasse's fleet, and, a fortnight afterwards, was invested by 
the combined French and American army, 16,000 strong. 
About the same time, also, the ever active Greene had fought another 
battle with the British in South Carolina, at Eutaw Springs, the imme- 
diate result of which was indecisive, the loss on each side being about 700 ; 
but the general consequence was, that the British were thenceforward 
cooped up in Charleston and the small district between the Cooper and 
Ashley rivers. Cornwallis was vigorously pressed, his intrenchments be- 
ing ruined and his guns dismounted by the fire of heavy breaching bat- 
teries. He tried a sally without improving his situation ; and then, all 
hope of aid from New York having failed, he was obliged to capitulate 
and surrender his whole army, still about 7,000 strong, as prisoners of 
war. This grand stroke was virtually the end of the armed contest in 
America ; having sacrificed two large armies, and protracted the struggle 
for six years, the British could no longer hope to retain a foothold in the 
United States, far less to bring them back to their former allegiance. 



THE AMERICAN EEVOLUTIOX. 381 

§ 515. Sucli now came to be the general opinion even in England, where, 

indeed, for the last three years, the war had been very unpopular. It had 

added over one hundred millions sterling to the national debt ; it had sullied 

the militai'y reputation of the kingdom, which had never stood higher than 

in 1760, and never lower than after the capture of Cornwallis ; it had 

brought France, Spain, and Holland into a league of hostilities against her, 

and had combined the other, professedly neutral, powers in an alliance 

hardly less injurious to her interests and her fame. Even the signal vic- 

torv obtained by the English admiral, Lord Rodney, over De 

"' "' Grasse's fleet in the West Indies, and the equally signal 

defeat of the Spaniards in their last and desperate attempt to take Gi- 

bralter, failed to restore English self-complacency, or to re- 
September. ., , . 1 . . /T T TV^ 1 , \ 1 • 1 1 1 

concue the nation to that mmistry, (Lord iSorth s,) which had 
brought them into so humiliating a position. These successes were but 
casual gleams of good fortune that came to lighten the close of a long 
period of disaster and shame. The phalanx of Lord North's parliament- 
ary supporters was broken, his ministry was driven from office, the king's 
obstinacy was overcome, and the Yv^'higs, under the guidance of Lord 
Rockingham, were established in power, with the express understanding 
that they were to make peace by submitting to the independence of the 
United States. Negotiations were immediately commenced with the 
American commissioners at Paris, Franklin, Adams, Laurens, and Jay ; 
they were protracted by points of form, and by the breaking up of the 
Whig ministry through the death of Rockingham ; but provisional arti- 
cles of peace Avere signed on the 30th of November, 1782, and the ces- 
sation of hostilities was agreed upon in January following. Owing to the 
necessity of including the Continental powers of Europe in the pacifi- 
cation, the definitive treaty of peace was not concluded till the next Sep- 
tember. In this, the independence of the United States was acknowledged, 
their boundaries adjusted, and a share in the fisheries secured to them ; 
while the claims of the other belligerent powers were adjusted by the 
surrender or return of the conquered towns and islands. 

§ 516. The peace came not too soon for exhausted and bleeding Ame- 
rica. The impossibility of satisfying the just demands of the army, the 
consequent sufferings both of officers and men, and the prospect of being 
disbanded at the peace and sent home in utter poverty, created a deter- 
mination among many of them to insist upon the payment of their dues 
with arms in their hands. Nothing but the moderation, wisdom, and firm- 
ness of their great commander-in-chief saved the country from the horrors 
of military usurpation. Some of the officers so far misjudged Washing- 
ton as to think that he might be tempted to play the part of Cromwell ; but 
his prompt and stern rebuke put an immediate end to the project. He 
then exerted himself, and with success, to soothe the passions that had 
been excited, and to lead the army back to moderate and patriotic coun- 



382 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

sels. The officers and men were persuaded to accept certificates of debt, 
with interest, for the arrears that were due to them, and to rely upon the 
efforts of Congress and the gratitude of the people for their redemption. 
The troops were quietly disbanded in the course of the sum- 
mer and autumn, and towards the close of the year, after the 
British had evacuated every place upon the seaboard, Washington was 
admitted to a public audience by Congress, when he resigned his commis- 
sion, and took a final leave, as he supposed, " of all the employments of 
public life." Universal gratitude and respect, Avhich amounted almost to 
veneration, attended him to his retirement at Mount Vernon. 

§ 517. At the close of the war, the United States were burdened with 
a heavy debt, of which they had not the means even of paying the interest, 
the public credit was annihilated, commerce and manufactures were in a 
torpid condition, and the country was almost without a government. 
During the greater part of the struggle, Congress had possessed no au- 
thority but what was tacitly granted to it from the necessity of the case. 
The individual States were unwilling to give up any portion of that inde- 
pendence Avhich they were striving to vindicate against a foreign power. 
They claimed complete sovereignty, and were unwilling to appear only 
as the members of a confederacy, under the general control of a central 
government. Besides, it was hard to adjust the terms of such an alli- 
ance. Perfect equality was hardly to l^e expected among states that dif- 
fered so widely from each other in regard to population, wealth, and ex- 
tent of territory ; yet on no terms short of equality would any one State 
consent to a union with the others. There were also many unadjusted con- 
troversies between them, in respect to boundary, and the ownership of that 
vast territory beyond the Alleghanies which had been wrested from the 
French. In 1777, a plan of union had been framed and adopted in Con- 
gress, after two years' discussion, not as the best which could be imagined, 
or as adapted to all exigencies, but as the only one " surted to existing 
circumstances, or at all likely to be adopted." It was not to go into effect 
until it was ratified by all the States ; and only four of them could be induced 
at first to adopt it. Slowly and reluctantly the others gave in their adhe- 
sion, the consent of New Jersey and Delaware not being obtained till 
1779, and that of Maryland not till 1781, when, at last, the final sanction of 
the articles of Confederation, as they were termed, was joyfully announced 
by Congress. But the union thus effected was very inadequate for the 
ends in view. It did not establish a central government ; it was only a 
league of several independent sovereignties. Congress was the only 
organ of the confederacy; each State had but one vote in this body on 
the decision of any question; and in respect to many subjects, the consent 
of nine States was requisite before the measure could go into effect. 
And after all, Congress had no power but to recommend measures ; it 
could not enforce them. It could " ascertain the sums necessary to be 



THE AMERICAN EEVOLUTION. 383 

raised for the service of the United States," and determine the quota or 
proportion which each State ought to pay ; but it depended upon the 
States whether the specified amount should be raised and paid, or the re- 
commendation entirely neglected. The fact generally was, that they 
refused compliance, or paid no attention to the demand ; of the many re- 
quisitions of Congress, not one 'fourth were complied with. Excuses or 
palliations of such conduct were not wanting ; the States were very poor, 
and had heavy debts of their own to provide for. Again, Congress could 
not impose duties upon imports, and the circumstances of the case pre- 
vented even the individual States from exercising this power. If im- 
ported goods were taxed by one, they were admitted free by another, 
which thus obtained a larger share of domestic and foreign trade, while 
the ports of its rival were deserted. Treaties with foreign powers could 
not be negotiated, as there was no power in the country to enforce the 
provisions made in them, the authority of Congress and that of the sepa- 
rate members of the confederacy just serving to paralyze each other. 
There was no common tribunal to which the States could appeal for the 
adjustment of their controversies with each other; and the ill compacted 
league was therefore liable to be broken by the first serious dispute 
which might grow out of many conflicting interests. It was obvious that 
this state of things could not long continue without bringing upon the 
country all the evils of anarchy and civil war. 

§ 518. The condition and temper of the people increased this hazard. 
The vast exertions they had made during the armed struggle had ex- 
hausted their energies, and, to a certain extent, had demoralized them. 
On the one hand, there was a general feeling of lassitude, an indisposi- 
tion to make any further sacrifices or efforts, and on the other, a fierce 
impatience of any act or movement which should even seem to limit their 
recently acquired, universal freedom. The load of public and private 
debt was enormous. Of what use was it, that the people had successfully 
resisted English bayonets, if they were now to be called upon to respect 
implicitly the orders of the sheriff and the staff of the constable ? To 
what purpose, had they braved the wrath of the crown and the pai-lia- 
ment, if creditors were still to distress them, and county courts sentence 
them to fine and imprisonment? Or why tax themselves millions of 
hard dollars, when they had just gone through a seven years' war because 
they Avould not pay an impost of three pence a pound on tea ? It is no 
cause for wonder that such questions were frequently asked, or even that 
a majority of the people were inclined to answer them in a way most con- 
sonant with their pregent feelings. It was a period of general anxiety 
and gloom, — a true crisis in the history of free institutions, not only in 
this country, but throughout the world. It was now to be determined 
whether national independence was to prove a blessing or a curse ; — 
whether the people, after throwing off all foreign restraint, would be wise 



384 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

and magnanimous enough to impose laws upon themselves, and to respect 
them when made, or wliether they would follow that course of anarchy, 
license, and civil war which has subsequently rendered the history of the 
South American republics and of the ephemeral republican governments 
of the Old World a warning to mankind. 

§ 519. The matter was brought to a crisis in 1786, by the breaking 
out of a rebellion in Massachusetts, the object of the insurgents being to 
close by violence the courts of law, thus putting a stop to legal measures 
for the collection of debts, and to compel the government to issue paper 
money, in order that all obligations might be discharged in a much de- 
preciated currency. Job Shattuck and Daniel Shays, formerly a captain 
ill the revolutionary army, were the leaders of the disaffected party, and 
it was at least doubtful whether they did not count a majority of the 
people among their followers. Job Shattuck, at the head of an armed 
force, took possession of the court-house at Worcester, and sent a written 
message to the judges, " that it was the sense of the people that the courts 
should not sit." At last, by great exertions on the part of the govern- 
ment and the well-affected citizens, an army of 4,000 men, under Gene- 
ral Lincoln, was fitted out, and after a very severe campaign in the midst 
of winter, this dangerous insurrection was suppressed with but little loss 
of life. An indirect but happy consequence of this rebellion was, that it 
convinced a majoi'ity of the people throughout the United States that n 
strong central government was indispensable, not merely for their well- 
being, but for the preservation of society itself from anarchy and ruin. 
" You talk, my good Sii'," wrote Washington from Mount Vernon, " of 
employing injiucnce to appease the present tumults in Massachusetts. I 
know not where that influence is to be found ; and, if attainable, it would 
not be a proper remedy for these disorders. Influence is not govern- 
ment. Let us have a government, by which our lives, liberties, and pro- 
perties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once." 

§ 520. Accordingly, a Convention of delegates from eleven of the 
States was held at Philadelphia in May, 1787, to revise the Articles of 
Confederation, or, in other w^ords, to frame a Constitution of government 
for the whole country. The delegates from New Hampshire did not 
appear till the Convention had been two months in session, and Rhode 
Island was never represented at all. Among the members present were 
Dr. Franklin, then in his 81st year, and Washington, who was unani- 
mously chosen president of the Convention. After they had been in ses- 
sion four months, with closed doors, strict secrecy being observed as to 
all their proceedings, they framed and published the present Constitution 
of the United States, approved by the signatures of all but three of the 
delegates who were then present, and which was to go into effect after it 
had been ratified in nine of the States, by conventions that were to be 
called for the occasion. Not without great difficulty, and many corapro- 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 385 

raises of conflicting opinions and interests, had this great step been taken. 
The centi'al government established by the Constitution was to consist of 
three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature, 
called the Congress, was to consist of two branches, the Senate and the 
House of Representatives. In the former, the representation was equal, 
each State having two senators ; in the latter, the number of represent- 
atives was to be proportioned to the population, wdiich was to be ascer- 
tained every ten years by adding to the whole number of the freemen 
three-fifths of the slaves. Two classes of opposing claims w'cre thus ad- 
justed by concessions on both sides. The executive power was vested in 
a president, chosen for four years, by electors equal in number, for each 
State, to all its senators and representatives in Congress. The President 
was allowed a qualified negative on the enactments of the legislature, as a 
bill to which he refused his consent was to become a law only when ap- 
proved by two-thirds of the votes in both branches. The judicial power 
was vested in a Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as Congress 
might establish ; and it extended to all cases arising under the Constitu- 
tion, the laws of Congress, and treaties made with foreign powers, to all 
cases of maritime jurisdiction, and all controversies between States, be- 
tween citizens of different States, and between foreigners and citizens. 
Congress was not to prevent the importation of slaves till the year 1808, 
and slaves escaping from one State to another were to be delivered up. 
Congress received the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, 
to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to coin money, to 
establish post-offices and post-roads, to provide and maintain a navy, 
and to call forth the militia for the purpose of executing the laws, sup- 
pressing insurrections, and repelling invasions. The States were prohi- 
bited, generally, from exercising any of the functions that were conferred 
upon Congress. In general terms, the States retained the power of do- 
mestic legislation upon all subjects in regard to which their interests 
were not likely to conflict, or which could be effectually disposed of with- 
out the cooperation of the whole Union ; while the Federal government 
assumed the functions which the States were deprived of, and received 
whatever other authority was needed to enable it to negotiate effectively 
with foreign powers as the representative of one nation. Numerous pro- 
visions were borrowed from Magna Charta and the more liberal portions 
of the English Common Law, and incorporated into the Constitution, to 
protect the liberty and the rights of individuals, and to guard against acts 
of oppression and injustice on the part either of the Federal or the State 
government. The instruinent was very practical in its character, and far 
more simple and concise than could reasonably have been expected, con- 
sidering the complicated subject with which it had to do, and the diffi- 
culty of adjusting the relations of the Federal government to the indi- 
vidual States, and of so distributing power between them that they could 

33 



386 THE MODERN EPOCH. 

work together harmoniously and effectively. As a whole, if judged either 
by the most approved maxims of political science, or by the light reflected 
upon it from that experience of more than sixty years to which it has 
been subjected, it may claim a high place among the best models of go- 
vernment that have been devised in ancient or modern times. It has 
required but few and slight amendments, and it has accomplished the 
whole work which it was designed to perform. 

§ 521. Great difficulties were again experienced in obtaining its ratifi- 
cation by the conventions in the several States to which it was soon sub- 
mitted. The two parties which were then formed, of its advocates and 
opponents, divided the people very equally between them, and, with some 
modifications, these parties have subsisted to the present day. The con- 
sent of nine States was necessary ; five ratified the instrument soon and 
with little difficulty. Then the question came up in Massachusetts, where 
the parties were nearly equal, though the democratic and independent 
spirit of the people seemed to incline the balance against the Constitu- 
tion. Every thing was thought to depend upon the decision in this vState 
and Virginia, on account of their great weight in the Union, and the in- 
riuence which they would respectively exert at the north and the south. 
Governor Hancock and Samuel Adams, the former being the president 
of the Convention, and the latter one of its most influential members, wa- 
vered. The Convention at last decided to propose certain amendments 
for adoption in the form prescribed by the Constitution itself; these served 
as an anodyne for the scruples of the two leading patriots, and the rati- 
fication was finally carried, though by a very slender majority. The con- 
sent of Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire was then obtain- 
ed, and next came that of Virginia, though after as warm a struggle as in 
Massachusetts, the opposition being led with great effect by Patrick Henry. 
The question was now virtually decided, and New York therefore gave 
a tai-dy and reluctant assent, which would probably have been a refusal 
if the measure could thereby have been defeated. North Carolina would 
only ratify upon certain conditions, and Rhode Island would not even hold 
a Convention to consider the subject ; but as eleven States had adopted 
the Constitution, their approval was not absolutely necessary, and it was 
finally given after the new form of government had been some time in 
operation. It must be granted, in favor of the opposition, that they 
showed no factious spirit, but calmly acquiesced in the decision of the 
majority of their countrymen. Congress appointed the first Wednes- 
day in January, 1789, for the choice of electors, the first Wednes- 
day in February for those electors to choose a president, and the first 
Wednesday in March for the new government to go into opera- 
tion. As had been anticipated, George Washington was unanimously 
elected president ; indeed, the certainty that he would be chosen to this 
office induced many to vote for the Constitution who would otherwise have 



THE AMERICAN KEVOLUTION. 387 

opposed it. John Adams was elected Vice-President, and senators and 
representatives were also chosen to form the first Congress. Proceedings 
were commenced at New York on the 4th of March, 1789 ; but a quorum 
of both houses did not come together till April, and on the 30th of this 
month. President "Washington was sworn into office^ and the new govern- 
ment went into full operation. 



BOOK FOURTH 



THE LATEST PEEIOD. 



A. THE FORERUNNERS OF THE REVOLUTION. 

1. THE LITERATURE OF ILLUMINATION. 

§ 522. In the course of the eighteenth century, a shock was given to 
all existing ideas by the literature of France. Ingenious, but, in part, 
mistaken men, opposed religious constitutions and ecclesiastical order, at- 
tacked the forms of government, and represented the conditions and shapes 
of society in the light of antiquated abuses. Whilst, at first, they laid 
hold of real blemishes and faults as points of attack, in religion and the 
Church, in politics and law, in civil regulations and social relations, they 
undermined by degi'ees all the foundations of human society and con- 
vulsed all rules of customary ordinance ; whilst they sought to annul im- 
munities, privileges, and class prerogatives, and to give freedom and per- 
sonal merit their due value, they weakened also the force of old statutes 
and rights, and the strength of authority ; and whilst they assailed super- 
stitious prejudices and Avoru-out opinions, they perplexed at the same 
time faith and conscience, destroyed the veneration and esteem for things 
holy and customary in the hearts of men, and propagated the idea that the 
happiness of the world could blossom only on the ruins of existing things. 
This was done especially by Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, whose 
ingenious writings, owing to the charm of beautiful language and powers 
of description, were read by the whole of educated Europe. The paths 
were different, but the result the same. 

§ 523. Voltaire, a versatile and ingenious author, who had distinguished 
Voltaiie himself in all kinds of literature, attacked with the arms of 

A. D. wit and a sharp intellect every thing customary and long- 

1694-1778. established, all dominant opinions and existing regulations, 
without concerning himself about what should come in their place. In 
poems, dramatic and epic, ( " Mahomet," " The Henriad," " The Maid 



THE LITERATURE OF ILLUMINATION. 389 

of Orleans," ) in satires and romances, in historical and philosophical 
works (" Essay on the Customs and Genius of Nations," " Times of 
Louis XIV.," " History of Charles XII. of Sweden," &;c.) he laid down 
his views and doubts, his thoughts and criticisms, his investigations and 
conclusions. Religion and the Church, priesthood and popular belief, 
experienced the most violent attacks ; and if it cannot be denied that Vol- 
taire's sarcasm and wit have destroyed many prejudices, removed many 
superstitions, and exhibited ecclesiastical exclusiveness in all its naked- 
ness, so also it is to be lamented that he has broken down religious feel- 
ing in many a heart, sown doubt and unbelief in many a mind, together 
with cold, worldly wisdom, and therewith selfishness, and represented 
self-love and self-interest as the highest motives of human actions. 
Montesquieu Montesquieu, a more earnest writer, drew attention to the 
A. D. faultiness and absurdity of the existing state of things, with 

1689-1755. a view to its improvement and reorganization in accordance 
with the spirit of the age. In the " Persian Letters," he attacked with 
the same wanton scorn as Voltaire the faith of the Church, and the whole 
form and system of government in France, and in the same way, by wit 
and irony, turned the customs and social position of his contemporaries 
into ridicule. In his ingenious treatise " On the Causes of the Greatness 
and the Decline of the Romans," he tried to prove that patriotism and 
self-reliance rendered a state great, but that despotism brought it to de- 
struction. His third work, " On the Spirit of Laws," presents the con- 
stitutional government of England as that best suited to the present race 
of men. 

J.J.Rousseau, J. J- Rousseau, the son of a watchmaker of Geneva, com- 
^- ^- batted existing conditions of society by an alluring descrip- 

it 2-1),-. ^-Qjj Q^ ^^ opposite state of things. After a youth full of 
mutations and abounding in necessities and errors, which he has display- 
ed to the world with singular candor in his " Confessions," he arrived, by 
the solution of a prize question on the influence of the arts and sciences 
upon manners, at the fundamental doctrine of his whole life and efforts, 
— namely, to the principle, that a high degree of civilization is the 
occasion of all the misery and all the crimes of mankind ; and that, 
consequently, it is only by a return to a state of nature, full of innocence 
and simplicity, and by shaking off all the fetters imposed by civilization, 
education, and custom, that the world can arrive at happiness and safety. 
This principle forms the central point of all his writings, which are more 
distinguished by sentiment and attractive descriptions, than by profundi- 
ty or truthfulness. In the " Nouvelle Heloise," a romance written in po- 
etical language and in the epistolary form, he contrasts the pleasures of 
a sentimental life of nature with the perverted relations of actual exis- 
tence and the compulsions of society. In the "Emile," he attempted to 
establish a rational system of education, founded upon nature and parental 

33* 



390 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

affection, and thus expiated the sin he had committed by allowing his 
own children to be taken to the foundling hospital. The " Confession of 
Faith of a Savoyard Vicar," which is to be found in this work, and in 
which he taught and recommended a religion of the heart and feelings in 
opposition to the predominant Church doctrine, brought banishment and 
persecution upon him. In the " Social Contract," he represented the 
equality of all men as the condition of a well-ordered state, and found 
the most estimable government in a perfect democracy, with legislative 
popular assemblies. In all these writings, golden truths are contained side 
by side with many essential errors and seductive fallacies. His words are 
the expression of a deep inward feeling, and penetrate to the heart be- 
cause they come from the heart. The effect of his writings was immea- 
surable, and every spot which his foot had trod, or where he had resided 
as a persecuted fugitive, was gazed upon with reverence by the rising 
generation. A feeling for nature, simplicity, and the domestic affections 
was awakened in France by Rousseau ; but at the same time, there was 
aroused a passionate longing for the lauded state of primitive liberty and 
equality, which could only be slaked by the destruction of existing 
arrangements and relations. 

§ 524. The influence of these men upon the opinions of all Europe 
was so much the greater, inasmuch as Paris then gave the fashion in 
every thing ; the French language and literature were alone read or 
spoken by the higher classes, and these writings excited universal atten- 
tion by their agreeable form and ingenious descriptions. Princes, like 
Frederick II., Gustavus III. of Sweden, Charles III. of Spain, Catha- 
rine II. of Russia, the greatest statesmen of all countries, and many per- 
sons of influence, were in personal or epistolary correspondence with Vol- 
taire and many of bis similarly-minded contemporai'ies. Among these 
contemporaries, D'Alembert, mathematician and philosopher, and the 
wanton poet, Diderot, ai'e particularly well known. They were the origin- 
ators of the Encyclopaedic Dictionary, which was a clear, large-minded, and 
unprejudiced summary of all human science, but hostile to every lofty 
effort. From this work, they and their coadjutors received the name of 
Encyclopaedists. 

The first consequence of this literary activity was the triumph of en- 
lightenment in most of the countries of Europe. This victory shortly 
displayed itself in religious toleration, in the successful struggle of reason 
against superstition and prejudice, in the vigorous reforms of many princes 
and ministers, and, above all, in the abolition of the order of 
the Jesuits, in the formation of the society of Illuminati, in 
the Latin work of the suffragan bishop, Hontheim of Treves (who, under 
the name of Febronius, pointed out the origin of the papal power and 
attempted to derive a new canon law therefrom), and in the attempts of 
several German prelates, iu the Congress of Ems, to procure for the Ca- 



FORERUNNERS OF THE REVOLUTION. 391 

tholic Church of Germany a free position in regard to the Roman See. 
The Order of the Jesuits, the great effort of which was to hinder 
this enlightenment, to retain the people in a state of pupilage, 
and to oppose every reform and innovation, could not long exist at a time 
when the whole educated world was striving in the contrary direction. 
Accordingly, when the minister, Pombal, in Portugal, closed the colleges of 
the Jesuits, and sent the members of the Order to the States of the Church, 
and when his example was followed in all the countries governed by the 
house of Bourbon (Spain, Naples, Parma,) Pope Clement XIV., a libe- 
ral and sensible prince of the Church, saw himself con- 
strained to abohsh the Order. This obliged Maria Theresa, 
who had long attempted to retain the Order in Austria, to consent to its 
dissolution, and the papal order was also carried into effect in Bavaria 
and the other Catholic countries of Germany. But the activity of the 
members of the Order was not thereby destroyed. Ex-Jesuits prose- 
cuted the objects of the society with undisturbed perseverance, and sti-ove 
against the spirit of the time. For the purpose of paralyzing their efforts, 
Adam Weishaupt, professor in Ingolstadt, in conjunction 
with Knigge and others, founded the secret society of lUumi- 
nati, whose objects were the enlightenment of the people, and the im- 
provement of humanity. Their contest against the ex-Jesuits, monks, 
and clergy, was soon checked by the legal pi'osecutions of the Bavarian 
government. 

§ 525. In the war which the British Colonies of North America had car- 
ried on against their mother country, Europe, which was filled with the 
ideas and dreams of Rousseau, saw the beginning of that great struggle by 
which mankind were to enter into a state of paradisiacal happiness ; a 
struggle, by the victorious termination of which the inborn rights of hu- 
manity and the people were to attain validity. The North American 
War of Independence was the first contest of young freedom against the 
ancient prerogatives, forms, and institutions ; and for this reason it had 
a particular interest for Europe. 

Holland, where the hereditary Stadtholder, "William V., and his former 
guardian and constant adviser, Ernest of Brunswick, were entirely de- 
voted to the English, whilst the aristocracy, from regard to the interests 
of commerce, were in alliance with the French, was injured in its trade, 
in its navigation, and in its colonies, by this war. Besides the irrepara- 
ble losses incurred by the East and West Indian trading companies, the 
Dutch possessions in the East Indies suffered a diminution. Holland 
afterwards entei-ed into more intimate relations with France. Her people, 
excited by the notions of republicanism and democratic freedom, which, 
since the American war, had spread over Europe, gave vent to the ani- 
mosity they felt against their government, which was favorably disposed 
towards England, by an insurrection. Duke Ernest of Brunswick was 



392 



THE LATEST PERIOD. 



obliged to leave the country, the Stadtholder and his wife were threatened, 

and armed mobs committed violence in some of the towns. 
A. D. 1784. 

At length, Frederick William II. of Prussia, brother of the 

A. D. 1787. Stadtholder's wife, marched troops into Holland, who quickly 

put an end to the insurrection and restored order. 

2. INNOVATIONS OF PRINCES AND MINISTERS. 

§ 526. The French illuminative philosophy and the Parisian spirit of 
the age exercised the greatest influence upon the views and measures of 
princes and governments. Not only were all the productions of French 
literature eagerly read and admired in the higher circles of Europe, but 
it also became the fashion for the well-born youth to spend some time in 
Paris to complete their education, and no man of cbnsequence could 
reckon upon consideration or regard if he had not been admitted into the 
intellectual circles of the French capital. All the princes and statesmen 
of Europe strove for the favor and friendship of the French literati and 
philosophers. Is it then to be wondered at, that, in the three last decen- 
niums which preceded the French Revolution, many reforms and innova- 
tions were undertaken, which had their origin in that spirit of the times 
which had been formed in France ? The endeavor was to apply practi- 
cally that which, in speech and in writing, was allowed to be the truth. Zeal- 
ous efforts were accordingly made on all sides to revolutionize ancient 
forms and institutions, laws and customs, and to adapt them by fresh 
arrangements to the spirit of the age. In the region of religion and the 
Church, this spirit first displayed itself in the establishment of the liberal 
and magnanimous principle of toleration in matters of faith, in the abolition 
of the Order of the Jesuits and of the Inquisition, and in the moderation 
of all principles and institutions dangerous to philanthropy or the rights 
of mankind. This new epoch of humanity exhibited itself most actively 
and with the best results ia the affairs of law, where efforts were every- 
where made to establish, as far as possible, the equal administi'ation of 
justice to every man, and to ameliorate or abolish the statutes and bur- 
dens which had descended from the middle ages. In many countries, serf- 
dom was abolished, feudal duties were done away with, of)pressive or de- 
grading relations I'emoved ; new codes and ordinances respecting the ad- 
ministration of justice annulled the cruel punishments of a stern and 
gloomy period, such as the rack, wheel, &c., and conferred the privileges 
of humanity even on the criminal. In regard to the economy of the 
state, new principles were established in France, which were adopted in 
many countries. According to these, money is the great lever of state 
science, and, consequently, the great object is to raise as large a revenue 
as possible by labor and by making use of natural agents. If this prin- 
ciple, on the one hand, was the occasion of the encouragement of agri- 
culture, mining, and planting, and that trade, industry, and useful inven- 



INNOVATIONS OP PKINCES AND MINISTERS. 393 

tions were patronized, it led, on the other, to oppressive duties, to the 
royal right of preemption, to indirect taxation, and to paper money. 

§ 527. The first who reorganized the relations of the state upon these 
Joseph Em- principles was Pombal, in Portugal, the all-powerful minis- 
manuel, A. d. ter of Joseph Emmanuel. An attempt to murder the king, 
1750-1777. which was ascribed to the powerful family of Tavora and 
A. D. 1759. ^]-jg instigations of the Jesuits, was made use of to drive the 
members of this Order out of Portugal, and afterwards to effect the en- 
lightenment of the people by new seminaries of education and by the dif- 
fusion of printed books. The pervading activity of this able man Avas 
felt in every quarter. He had the affairs of the army and those relating to 
war placed on abetter footing by the Geilnan marshal, William of Lippe- 
Schaumburg ; he encouraged agriculture and industry, to draw the people 
from dirt and indolence ; and when a fearful earthquake destroyed 
November, 30,000 houses in Lisbon, he was indefatigable in repairing the 
^'^^^- mischief. Pombal united the severity and arbitrariness of a 

despot to the courage and the penetrating will of a reformer. All the 
prisons were filled with those who opposed him. When these regained 
their liberty under the reign of the weak Maria, they united themselves 
for the overthrow of the minister, after which, Portugal was again plung- 
ed into the same wretched state as before. In Spain, similar attempts 

^, , ^„ were made to reorsjanize the affairs of Church and State by 

Charles in. 

A. D. ' liberal ministers, like Aranda and others. When the Jesuits 

1759-1/88. opposed these innovations, Aranda ordered 5,000 of them to 
be aiTCsted in a single night, embarked on board ships, without distinc- 
tion of age or rank, and carried off like criminals, with great harshness, 
to the States of the Church. Their property was confiscated and their 
establishments closed. During the latter years of the reign of Charles 
III., however, the clergy and Inquisition again acquired great influence, 
and destroyed or disturbed the greater number of the reforms. In 
France. France, the minister Choiseul belonged to the promotex's of 

Choiseiil. enlightenment and progress ; but under the government of a 
voluptuous king, like Louis XV., no improvement could take place. 
After the ascension of the throne by Louis XVI., two men were called 
to the ministry who possessed both the power and the will to heal the 
shattered constitution of the state by effectual reforms — Turgot and 

Malasherbes. They proposed that a new mode of taxation 
Turgot and j x l 

Malasherbes, should be introduced, that the nobility and clergy should 
A. D. 1776. i^g^j. ^jjgjj. gijare of the bui-dens of the state, and that the 
institutions of the middle ages should be modified so as to suit the 
present times. Civil equality before the law, without regard to person, 
rank, or religion, was to be everywhere maintained ; but their plans 
were shipwrecked by the selfishness of the nobles and the clergy, and by 
the blindness of the court. 



394 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

§ 528. Similar attempts at reform were made about the same time 
Christian VII "^ *^^^ North and East of Europe. In Denmark, under the 
A. I). imbecile king, Christian YII., the German physician, Struen- 

1766-1S08. gpp^ arrived at the dignity of count of the empire and prime 
minister, by the aid of the queen, Caroline Matilda, a daughter of the 
royal house of England. Furnished with unheard-of powers, so that all 
orders signed by him and provided with the seal of the cabinet possessed 
the same validity as if the king himself had subscribed them, Struensee 
adopted a multitude of arrangements, in the spirit of the age, for the re- 
lief of the citizen and peasant classes, for the curtailment of the power 
of the nobility, and for the improvement of the proceedings of justice. 
A man without remarkable qualities, without strength of character, with- 
out courage or resolution, he soon laid himself open in such a way that his 
fall was readily accomplished. His contidential relations with the high- 
minded although imprudent queen received an unfavorable interpretation ; 
he oiFeuded the national feeling of the Danes by his use of the German 
language in all official proclamations ; and by the want of courage he 
displayed on the occasion of a trifling tumult among the military and sail- 
ors, he rendered himself contemptible, and inspired his opponents with 
contidenee. Whilst the minister was at a ball, Juliana, Christian's step- 
mother, pressed into the king's bedchamber with some of her confidants, 
and, by her description of the dangers that were threatening, induced him 
to sign a number of orders of arrest that were already prepared. Upon 
this, Struensee and his friend Brandt were committed to prison, and, after 
a most iniquitously conducted trial, punished, the one by being beheaded, 
Ausixst 28, the other by the loss of his right hand. Caroline Matilda, 
1772. betrayed by the weakness of Struensee, was separated from 

A. D. 1775. the king, and died, after three years of wretchedness, in 
Celle. After the death of Struensee, Juliana took possession of the gov- 
ernment, and ordered, through her favorite Guldberg, all the offensive 
reforms to be repealed. But when the Crown Prince, Frederick, came 
of age, he conducted the government in his father's name, and made over 
the conduct of the ministry to the gallant Bernstorf. 

§ 529. In Sweden, the power of the aristocracy attained its full deve- 
Adolf Fredc- lopment under the reign of the good-natured king, Adolf Fre- 
rick, A. D. derick. The council of state, which had the management of 
ii y( - 1. 1 1. evei'y thing, consisted of men without either honor or patriot- 
ism, who sold themselves to foreign powers, and served the interests of 
those states from which they drew the largest sums of money ; the honor 
and well-being of the countiy was a point they never considered. Two 
parties, called " Hats " and " Caps," the former in the pay of France, the 
latter in that of Kussia, hated and persecuted each other even unto blood- 
shed, and made the Diet the scene of their hostile attacks. The king 
possessed neither power nor respect. This state of things came to an end, 



INNOVATIONS OF PRINCES AND MINISTERS. 395 

when, after the death of Adolf Frederick, the adroit and popular Gus- 

tavus III. ascended the throne. Brave, chivalrous, and elo- 
Gustavus in., , ., . , 1 /-. T 1 1 1 . 

quent, he easily gained over the .Swedish army and people to 

1771-1791 ^"'^ ^'^^' ^"^ *^^'*^" compelled the state council, after he had 
surrounded their house of assembly with troops, to consent to 
alterations in the government. By this bloodless revolution, the execu- 
tive power was restored to the crown, and the council of state reduced 
within the hounds of a deliberative assembly. The disposition of the 
land and sea forces, and the appointment of state and military officers, 
were in the hands of the king. lie was to collect the votes of the Es- 
tates before levying a tax, declaring war, or concluding a peace. But 
after a few years, he freed himself from this restraint also, by an arbitra- 
ry exercise of power, and gave absolute authority to the throne. En- 
dowed with many talents and kingly qualities, Gustavus III. took ad- 
vantage of his lofty position to introduce many reforms in the govern- 
ment and administration of justice, which contributed to the welfare of 
his people, and were in accordance with the spirit of the times. But 
many of his proceedings were the result of a love of magnificence, a de- 
sire to imitate F'rench fashions, and an attachment to the departed times 
of chivalry. The founding of an academy upon the French model, the 
erection of theatres and opera houses, the revival of tournaments and 
running at the ring, occasioned great expenses to the impoverished 
country. The king's unseasonable dreams of heroism, and his chivalrous 
whims, gave a distorted turn to his activity. When he declared that the 
distillation of brandy was a privilege of royalty, and compelled the Swedes 
to buy their accustomed beverage, which hitherto almost every family 
had prepared for itself, for a high price at the royal distilleries, and when 
he undertook a useless and expensive war, both by sea and land, with 
Russia, the affection of his people gradually decayed ; and 
when, at length, before the former wounds had ceased to bleed, 
he meditated a war with France, for the purpose of opposing 
the Revolution, and saving the crown of Louis XVI., a 
J-JJ2 ' conspiracy was formed, in consequence of which Gustavus 
III. was shot at a masked ball by Ankarstrom, a former 
officer of the guard. 

§ 530. In Austria, Maria Theresa, in conjunction with the 
enlightened minister, Kaunitz, was the first to abolish many 
abuses, and to introduce many timely reforms. The affairs of the army 
and of war were reorganized, the administration of justice was in every way 
improved ; new seminaries of education were established, and the econo- 
my of the state properly arranged. But she proceeded with prudence 
and discretion, and treated with forbearance not only the national faith, 
but the national rights, and the established usages and customs. Not so 
her son Joseph II. Scarcely had he become the absolute ruler of the 



396 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

vast Austrian empire, before he undertoolc a series of reforms which 
offended the clergy and the zealous friends of the Church, 
Joseph II., prejudiced the privileged nobility, and outraged the national 
1780 - 1790. feelings of the subjects of the imperial house. He first in- 
troduced religious toleration, and afforded the adherents of 
the Lutheran, Calvinistic, and Greek Churches the free exercise of their 
religion, and equal civil and political rights with the Catholics ; he then 
diminished the number of monasteries, and applied the property of the 
Church which was thus obtained to the improvement of schools, and to 
the erection of establishments of general utility ; he limited pilgrimages 
and processions, and embarrassed the communication and intercourse of 
the clergy with Rome. It was in vain that pope Pius VI. endeavored to 
bring the emperor to a different course by the unexampled proceeding 
of a journey to Vienna. Joseph received him with the greatest respect, 
but remained firm to his purpose. Not less fertile of results were his 
reforms in civil and political matters. He established personal freedom 
by the abolition of serfdom, and civil legal equality by the introduction 
of an equitable system of taxation, and of equahty in the eye of the law, 
without regard to rank or person. Joseph II. had the noblest intentions 
in these innovations ; but he proceeded with too great haste, and too little 
regard to existing relations, customs, and prejudices, and did not allow 
the seed the necessary time to ripen. He thus placed in the hands of 
the opponents of progress the means of throwing suspicion upon his ac- 
tions and efforts, and of depriving his measures, which were calculated 
for the happiness of mankind, of all their fruits. When he attempted to 
introduce his reforms into the Austrian Netherlands also, established a 
new high court of justice in Brussels, and commenced the reorganization of 
the university of Louvain, which was under the guidance of the clergy, 
disturbances arose that at length terminated in a universal rebellion. 
The Netherlanders refused the taxes, drove the Austrian re- 
gency, along with the weak garrison, out of the country, and 
declared in a congress the independence of the Netherlands. This event, 
which had been brought about by the nobility and clergy, 

A. D. 17D0. o J •! <=./ ' 

and similar occurrences in Hungary, broke the heart of the 
February 20, irritable emperor, and hastened his death, the seeds of 
^'^ ' which he had imbibed in the unhealthy lands of the Danube, 

during the Turkish wars, when he was the ally of Russia. Joseph's 
indefatigable exertions, and the activity with which he superintended 
every thing himself, the freedom with which he admitted both high 
and low to his presence, and his abolition of the tyranny of officials, met 
with no appreciation ; his views were misunderstood and misrepresented, 
Leopold n,, bis noblest plans were frustrated, and his name calumniated. 
A. D. But posterity, which can appreciate more justly his intentions 

1790-1792. ^^^ j^-g efforts, will ever bless his memory. Ilis brother and 



WAR OF RUSSIA WITH THE TURKS. 397 

successor, Leopold IL, restored most of the ancient usages, and thus 
brought back peace in Belgium and Hungary. 

jj^ssia. § 531. Even uncivilized Russia felt the influence of the 

Catherine 11., spirit of the age, under the long and splendid reign of Cathe- 
A. D. rine II. The empress possessed great talents for govern- 

1762 - 1796. ment, and a susceptible mind ; she maintained a correspond- 
ence with Voltaire and others of similar sentiments, invited Diderot to 
St. Petersburg, and encouraged sciences and arts. She improved the 
administration of justice, founded schools and academies, and adopted 
many arrangements that gave an air of civilization to the country, and 
which were loudly applauded by the French authors. But the greater 
part was mere illusion ; the celebrated journey of the empress to Tauris, 
during which, artificial villages, shepherds and their flocks driven to the 
spot, and country festivals along the road, were to produce the belief that 
the land was blooming and prosperous, is an image of her whole reign. 
As regards the private life of the empress and her court, the same immo- 
rality, dissoluteness, and luxury reigned in St. Petersburg as in Paris. 
After Gregor Orloff", to whom the voluptuous' empress had surrendered 
both her person and her empire in return for the share he had taken in 
the murder of her husband, followed a succession of other paramours, 
who were all loaded with wealth and honors. The situation of the fa- 
vored lover of the empress was at length disposed of like a court-office. 
No one, however, enjoyed her favor so long as Potemkin the Taurlan. 
For a space of sixteen years, he conducted the affairs of government and 
Potemkin, the plans of conquest, lived during the whole of the time in 
A. D. 1791. a, state of magnificence that bordered on the fabulous, and 
displayed the wealth that was showered upon him by his liberal mistress 
in a manner truly remarkable. It was only a man with a spirit of en- 
terpi'ise so daring as to spare neither money nor human life, who, in the 
eyes of the empress, was capable of giving the befitting glory and renown 
to her government. The rebellion of Pugatscheff, a Don Cossack, who 
called himself Peter III., and who found many adherents in 
the neighborhood of the Volga, was speedily suppressed. 

Pugatscheff, betrayed by his bosom friend, was beheaded in 
A. D. 1775. T 1 • 1 T 

Moscow, and his body cut to pieces. 

3. THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND, AND RUSSIA'S WAR WITH 

THE TURKS. 

§ 532. The kingdom of Poland had long been a rotten structure, which 
was preserved upright only by the divisions and jealousies of the neighbor- 
ing states, and not by its own strength. The elective constitution was the 
misfortune of the country ; every vacancy of the throne produced the 
most violent contests, by which the nation was divided into parties, bri- 
bery and corruption became predominant, and the nobles attained such 

34 



398 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

privileges as were inconsistent with any well organized state policy. The 
throne was powerless ; the Diet, from which " Republican Poland " re- 
ceived her laws, became proverbial from the vehement party contests 
that rendered every debate fruitless ; the whole power Avas placed in the 
hands of the armed confederation. A kingdom, where it was only the 
noble who possessed liberty or the privilege of bearing arms, and who, 
relying upon his sword, despised the law ; where enslaved peasants were 
held in a condition of serfdom ; where commerce, which in other lands 
is carried on by a cultivated class of citizens, was in the hands of sor- 
did and avaricious Jews, must needs have excited the cupidity of ambi- 
tious neighbors. 

Augustus m., After the death of Augustus III., the Polish empire again 
A. D. 1763. became the prey of the old elective tempests, till at length, 
Stanislaus Poniatowski, one of the former lovers of the empress Cathe- 
rine II., was chosen king in the plain of Wola, amidst the clash of Rus- 
September, 4, sian sabres. Poniatowski was a connoisieur and patron of 
1764. literature and the arts, and an amiable and accomplished gen- 

Poniatowski tleman, but without strength of character or power of will. 
A. D. Weak, and with no consistency of character, he was a mere 

1764 -l< 95. tennis-ball in the hands of the powerful. The Russian am- 
bassador in Warsaw possessed greater power than he did ; and, to pre- 
vent the possibility of Poland's escape from this state of disorder and 
feebleness, Russia and Prussia determined upon maintaining the ancient 
constitution unaltered. 

§ 533. It happened at this crisis, that the Polish Dissidents, under 
which term were included not only the Protestants and Socinians, but 
also the adherents of the Greek Church, petitioned the Diet for the resto- 
ration of the ecclesiastical and civil privileges of which they had been de- 
prived by the Jesuits. Their petition, although supported by Russia, 
Prussia, and most of the Protestant governments, was rejected at the 
Diet by the Catholic nobility, at the instigation of the clergy. The Dis- 
sidents, in combination with the " discontented," now foi'med the General 
Confederation of Radom, called upon Russia for assistance. 
^ ■^ " ' ' ' and extorted the free exercise of religion, admission to of- 
fices, and the churches they had before possessed, from the Diet. Sur- 
rounded by Russian troops, the representatives subscribed, under the 
portrait of the empress, the act of toleration, that was greeted by all 
Europe, and which was the sign of the impotence of Poland. That this 
impotence might be permanent, it was decided that no change should be 
made in the existing constitution without the consent of Russia. 

These proceedings offended the national feeling of the Polish patriots, 
and aroused the rehgious hatred of the Catholic zealots. The ante-con- 
Febraary 28, federation of Bar was formed, which was to free the Poles 
1768. from Russian supremacy, and to wrest from the Dissidents 



"WAR OF RUSSIA WITH THE TURKS. 399 

the rights that had been conceded them. France supported it with 
money and officers. A furious war now arose between the two confede- 
rations. ^ But the Russian army, which had remained in the country for 
the protection of the Diet and the Dissidents, carried off the victory. 
Bar and Cracow, the chief strongholds of the enemy, were stormed, and 
tiiey were compelled to take refuge in the Turkish dominions. The Rus- 
sians followed them over the borders, and did not refrain from murder- 
ing, plundering, and devastating even on a foreign soil. 

§ 534. This infringement of territory induced the Porte, which was 
urged on by the French ambassadors, to declare hostilities against Rus- 
First Turkish sia, whereupon the Turkish war burst forth, which for six 
War, A. D. years fearfully convulsed the east of Europe both by land 
1768-1774. mild gga_ Whilst Romanzoff, after two bloody encounters, 
was conquering Moldavia and Wallachia, and the dreadful storm of Ben- 
der was filling all Europe with astonishment, the Morea, where the 
Greeks, relying upon the assistance of Russia, had risen against the rule 
of the Turks, was horribly ravaged with fire and sword by the latter, so 
that whole districts were covered with ruins and corpses ; and in the 
haven of Tschesme, opposite the island of Chios, the whole Turkish 
July, 16, fleet was destroyed by fire. At the same time, Moscow and 

A. D. 1771. itg neighborhood were visited by a desolating pestilence, and, 
in Poland, the civil war still raged with increasing fury. It was only 
by a miracle that Poniatowski escaped from some conspirators, who 
wished to carry him off from Warsaw. On every side the eye encoun- 
tered plains soaked with blood, villages burnt to the ground, and Aveep- 
ing inhabitants. The impotence and divisions of Poland invited the 
neighboring powers to attempt a partition of her territory. After a per- 
sonal interview between Frederick II. and Joseph II. (the rightminded 
Maria Theresa was hostile to the scheme,) and a visit of prince Henry of 
August 5, Prussia to St. Petersburg, a treaty of partition was arranged 
1772. between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, in consequence of 

which each of these states took possession of the portion of Poland which 
adjoined their own territories. It was in vain that the Diet opposed it- 
self courageously and resolutely to the execution of this project, and 
showed that the pretended rights and claims which the powers insisted 
upon had long been given up by contracts, surrendei's, and treaties of 
peace ; it was in vain that it solemnly protested before God and the 
world against such an abuse of superior power, and against a proceeding 
which outraged truth and good faith ; surrounded and threatened by 
Russian arms, it at length yielded to force, and consented to the surrender 
of the country. It was thus that Polish Prussia, together with the dis- 
trict of the Netz, and the fertile lands of the Vistula (Elbing, Marien- 
burg, Culm, &c.) became the property of Prussia; Gahcia, with the 
rich mines of Wielicza, of Austria; and the lands on the Dwina and 



400 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Dnieper, of Russia. The establishment of a " perpetual council," that 
was completely under Russian influence, deprived the king of the last 
remains of power. From this time forth, the Russian ambassador in 
Warsaw was the real governor of the Polish republic. Shortly after, 
Russia, by the peace of Kudschuck Kainardsche with the Porte, obtained 
the right of passage through the Dardanelles, and the protective gov- 
ernment of Moldavia and Wallachia, and the peninsula of the Crimea. 

§ 535. Russia's thirst of conquest was not satisfied with this. A few 
years afterwards, the khan of the Tartars was compelled to lay down his 
office ; upon which, Potemkin conquered the Crimea, after 
dreadful devastations, and united it, with the other lands on 
the Black Sea, into one territory, distinguished by the ancient name of 
Tauris. Colonists were called forth from Germany into the desolate 
steppes, the trading towns of Cherson and Odessa arose, and deceived the 
world by the outward appearance of civilization. But the happiness 
and prosperity of the inhabitants disappeared with freedom ; the once 
splendid city of tents degenerated into a camp of gypsies ; and the houses 
and palaces of stone fell into ruins. The threatening neighborhood of 
Second Turk- Russia was a cause of anxiety to the Porte. Before long, a 
ish War, A. d. second furious war broke out, by land and sea, between Rus- 
1787-1792. gjg^ ^^^ Turkey. But this time, also, victory accompanied 
the Russian army and its di-eadful leader. In the midst of winter, Po- 
December 17, temkin stormed the strong city of Oczakow, after he had 
1788. filled the trenches with blood and dead bodies ; and the brave 

SuwarofF took the fortress of Ismael under circumstances of similar lior- 
Decembcr 22, ror. The road to Constantinople now stood open to the Rus- 
I'i'&o. sians, and the name of Catherine's second grandchild, '• Con- 

stantino," was supposed to indicate the secret intention of the empress to 
introduce a Christian prince into the Byzantine capital. This love of 
conquest displayed by Russia occasioned uneasiness to the other states. 
England and Prussia assumed a threatening aspect ; Gustavus III. of 
Sweden attacked the Russians by sea and land ; and Poland thought 
that the favorable moment had arrived for withdrawing herself from the 
dictatorial influence of Russia, and for again regaining her political inde- 
pendence. In alliance with Prussia, the Poles dissolved the perpetual 
council, turned the elective empire into an hereditary mon- 
' ^^ ' ' ' archy, gave themselves a constitutional government with 
two chambers, and a stricter separation of the executive, legislati\'e, and 
judicial powers. 

§ 536. This constitution, appropriate to the age, and the work of pa- 
triotically-disposed men, was received with applause by the whole of 
Europe. The king swore to observe it. Frederick William II. ex- 
pressed his favorable wishes : even Catherine concealed her vexation. A 
new spirit seemed to have taken possession of the nation. But party- 



THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND. 401 

spirit and selfishness destroyed the good work. Many of the nobles 
were discontented with the change ; a party was formed for the preserva- 
tion of Polish " liberty," as they, in their delusion, called the ancient sys- 
tem, and they invoked the aid of the empress. The latter had just concluded 
the peace of Jassy with the Porte, and embraced with avidity the oppor- 
tunity of marching her army upon the frontiers. Trusting to this assist- 
Januarj^, ance, the Russian party formed the confederation of Targo- 
^''^^- wicz, for the restoration of the old constitution. A Russian 

May 14, army soon stood in the heart of Poland. In vain the patri- 

l?92. ots called upon Prussia for assistance ; opinions had changed 

in Berlin ; an alliance with Russia was preferred to the frienship of Po- 
land, more particularly as an imitation of the new French ideas and 
forms of government was detected in the new constitution. Nevertheless, 
the Poles did not despair of their righteous cause. Kosciuzko, a brave 
soldier, who had fought in the cause of freedom under Washington in 
America, placed himself at the head of the patriots, and encountered the 
July 17, superior force of the Russians at Dubienka. But party-spirit, 

^''^2. dissension, treachery, and want of system impeded every un- 

dertaking, and paralyzed every power. The king, hitherto an enthusias- 
tic adherent of the new constitution, soon fell into his old irresolution and 
faint-heai'tcdness, and allowed himself to be so terrified by a threatening 
letter of the empress, that he joined the alliance of Targowicz, and re- 
nounced all further hostilities. The gallant warriors laid down the sword 
in wrath, and left their homes to escape the scorn of the victors. 

But a new act of violence followed the victory. In April, Russia and 
Prussia declared that it was necessary to inclose Poland 

A. D. 1703. . ,. . „ „ 

withm narrower hmits, for the purpose of stifling the intoxi- 
cation of liberty which had penetrated into the republic from France, and 
of preserving the neighboring states from every taint of democratic Jaco- 
binism. It was in vain that the Diet assembled at Grodno opposed itself 
to this new treaty of partition. Every opposition gradually ceased, when 
Russian troops surrounded the house of assembly, and violently carried 
off the boldest speakers. Thus followed the second division of Poland, 
July 22 ; by which Russia obtained the most important of the eastern 
October 14, districts (Lithuania, Little Poland, Volhynia, Podolia, Ukra- 
^'^^"" ine) ; Prussia gained possession of Great Poland, along with 

Dantzic and Thorn. The republic of Poland retained scarce a third of 
her former territory. 

§ 537. Tlie partitioned land was occupied by Russian and Prussian 
troops; and Catherine's ambassador, the coarse and brutal Igelstrom, 
ruled with pride and insolence in Warsaw. The national spirit of Poland 
was once more aroused. A secret conspiracy was formed, which ex- 
tended its branches over the whole countr}'. Kosciuzko and the emi- 
grant pati'iots returned, and placed themselves at the head of the move- 

34* 



402 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

ment, the central point of which was Cracow. It was from this place 
that Kosciuzko, who had been named the absolute chief of the national 
force, issued a summons to the people, in which he represented the restora- 
tion of the freedom and independence of the country, the reconquest of 
the separated territories, and the introduction of a constitutional govern- 
Apiil 17, ment, as the objects of the struggle. The insurrection 

1794. quickly extended itself to the capital. The Russian garrison 

in Warsaw was attacked on Maundy-Thui'sday, and either cut to pieces 
or made prisoners. Igelstrom's palace was destroyed by fire ; four of 
the most illustrious adherents of Russia died upon the gallows. The 
provinces followed the example of the capital ; the king approved the 
revolt of the misused nation ; and every thing promised a successful is- 
sue. The Prussians, who had marched into the neighborhood of War- 
saw, were compelled to a hasty and disastrous retreat by the brave 
generals Kosciuzko, Dombrowski, and Joseph Poniatowski (the nephew 
of the king.) But the success of the Poles increased the enemy's de- 
sire of vengeance. Catherine, with the consent of Austria and Prussia, 
sent her most redoubted general, Suwaroff, into Poland. Kosciuzko was 
obliged to yield to the superior strength of his opponent. After an un- 
successful engagement, he fell, wounded, from his horse, with the excla- 
October 10, mation, " the end of Poland ! " and was carried off a prisoner. 
1794. On the 4th of November, the suburb, Praga, was' stormed by 

Suwaroff; 12,000 defenceless people were either slain or drowned in 
the Vistula. The shrieks of the slaughtered terrified the inhabitants of 
the capital, and made them Avilling to surrender. On the 9th of Novem- 
ber, SuwaroiF made his splendid entry into Warsaw as a conqueror. 
Poniatowski was obliged to surrender the crown. He lived in St. Pe- 
tersburg, on an annuity, till his death in 1798, an object of deserved con- 
tempt. A few months later, the three powers declared that 
January, 1795. „,. ,. ,, 

out 01 love for peace and the welfare of their subjects, they 
had decided upon the partition of the whole republic of Poland. Ac- 
cordingly, the south, with Cracow, went to Austria ; the land on the left 
of the Vistula, with the capital, Warsaw, to Prussia ; Russia took pos- 
session of all the rest. Thus the once renowned and powerful Poland 
disappeared from the ranks of independent States, a victim to a weakness 
for which she was indebted to herself, and a violence that despised the 
rights of foreign nations. Kosciuzko, after being set at liberty by Paul 
I., died as a private man in Switzerland (October, 1817). His dead 
body was conveyed to Cracow. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 403 



B. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

1. THE LAST DAYS OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 

§ 538. Louis XV. at first posses^d the affections of his people to such 
Louis XV. ^ degree, that he was named the " Much-beloved ; " and when 
died 1774. ]^q ^^g attacked by a dangerous illness in Metz, the whole 
land went into mourning, and his recovery was celebrated by the greatest 
rejoicings. But this love gradually changed into hatred and contempt 
when the king gave himself up to the most shameless debaucheries, and 
surrendered the government of the country, the command of the army, 
and the decision upon points of law and state policy, to the companions 
of his orgies and the ministers of his lusts and pleasures ; and when 
mistresses, without moi'als or decency, ruled the court and the empire. 
Among these women, none possessed greater or more enduring influence 
than the Marchioness of Pompadour, who guided the whole policy 
of France for a period of twenty years, filled the most important offices 
with her favorites, decided upon peace or war, and disposed of the revenues 
of the state as she did of her private purse, so that, after a life passed in 
luxury and splendor, she left millions behind her. She and her creatures 
encouraged Louis's excesses and love of pleasure, that he might jslunge 
continually deeper in the pool of vice, and leave to them the government 
of the state. For the rest, the Pompadour used her position and her in- 
fluence with a certain dignity, and with tact and discretion ; but when the 
countess Du Barry, a woman from the very dregs of the people, occupied 
her place, the court lost all authority and respect. 

§ 539. This reign of lust and extravagance, together with the useless 
and costly wars in Germany, exhausted the treasury and increased the 
burden of debts and taxation. And as all these taxes and imposts press- 
ed entirely upon the citizen and peasant class, whilst the wealthy no- 
bility and the clergy enjoyed an exemption, the man of moderate means 
was very heavily burdened, especially as the government did not super- 
intend their collection, but left it in the hands of the farmers-general of 
the revenue and of their blood-sucking subordinates. The land and 
property-tax, the capitation-tax, the house-tax, the tolls and duties upon 
salt, wrested from the lower classes (who, in addition, had to pay tithes, 
labor-dues, and other feudal taxes to their landlords), the fruits of their 
industry, and prevented the rise of a prosperous middle class. It was 
the custom that all laws and ordinances relating to taxes should be re- 
gistered in the parliament of Paris ; hence it followed, that in default of 
the States-General, which since 1614 had no more been summoned, the 
validity of taxes and orders depended upon its sanction ; and that it also 
possessed the right of opposing the laws and edicts relating to taxes by 



404 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

refusing their registration. This produced a violent contest between the 
parliament and government at every new tax, which was usually termi- 
nated by the king holding a " bed of justice," and overpoAvering resistance. 
Beside the tax edicts, the arbitrary lettres de cachet were another source 
of contention between the court and the parliament. These terrible let- 
ters, which were easily to be obtained by any one possessing any influ- 
ence at court, were a despotic attack upon the liberty of the person, in- 
asmuch as by their means any one might be arrested and imprisoned 
without a hearing. For ten years did the parliament struggle against 
the court and government, till Louis XV., weary of the perpetual opposi- 
tion, at length crave a new direction to the matter, and ordered 
the members of the opposition to be arrested. But they 
again assumed the same attitude under his successor. 

§ 540. When Louis XV., in consequence of his excesses, was carried 
off in the midst of his sins by a frightful distemper, the treasury was ex- 
hausted, the country in debt, credit gone, and the people heavily oppress- 
Louis XVI. ^^ t)y their burdens. It was under these melancholy cir- 
A. D. cumstances, that an absolute throne descended to a prince 

1774-1793. who certainly possessed the best of hearts, but a weak un- 
derstanding ; who was good-natured enough to wish to relieve the condi- 
tion of the people, but who possessed neither strength nor intellect for 
efBcient measures. This prince was Louis XVL .Weak and indulgent, 
he allowed the frivolity and extravagance of his brothers, the count of 
Provence (afterwards Louis XVIIL), and the count of Artois (Charles 
X.) ; and permitted his wife, Marie Antoinette, the highly-accomplished 
daughter of Maria Theresa, to interfere in matters of state, and to exert 
a considerable influence upon the court and government. The queen, by 
her pride and haughty bearing, incurred the dislike of the people, so that 
they ascribed every unpopular measure to her influence, and jDut a bad 
construction upon every liberty she allowed herself in private. Even in 
the celebrated story of the necklace, in wdiich some swindler made use 
of her name to gain possession of a splendid ornament, many believed 
her participation in the guilt. 

The prevailing -want of money, and the disordered state of the revenue, 
could only be remedied by including the nobility and clergy in the taxa- 
tion, by large reforms in the whole system of government, like those pi'o- 
posed by Turgot and Maljisherbes, and by order and economy in the ex- 
penditure. But Louis XVI. had neither strength nor resolution to carry 
out such decisive measures ; and as for economy, the extravagant court of 
Versailles would not listen to it. The Genevese banker, Necker, who 
Necker's first, ^i^f^ertook the management of the finances after Turgot, Avas 
ministry, as little in a position as his predecessor to reduce the disorder 
A- D. in the state economy ; and when, upon the occasion of a loan, 

17/1-1781. j^g exposed the financial condition of France in a pamphlet. 



THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. 405 

he drew upon himself the displeasure of the court and the aristocracy to 
such a de";ree, that he was obhged to resign his office. This 

\ D 1781 o " o o 

happened at the time when the American war had increased 
the scarcity of money, and aroused the feeling of liberty and republican- 
ism in France. It was, therefore, a great misfortune for the French 
monarchy, that just at this critical moment the frivolous and extrava- 
gant Calonne undertook the management of the finances. This man de- 
parted from the frugal plan of Necker, acceded to the wishes of the queen 
and 4he necessities of the princes and courtiers, and deluded the world 
with high-sounding promises of putting an end to all difficulties. The 
most splendid festivals were celebrated in Versailles, and the talents of 
Calonne loudly extolled. But his means, also, were soon exhausted. He 
was obliged to resolve upon calling an Assembly of Notables, consisting 

of nobles, clergy, high state officials, parliamentary council- 
j^gK '^'' lors, and a few representatives of the towns. They rejected 

the proposal of a universal taxation, Avhich should embrace 
both the nobles and clergy, and threatened the minister of finance with 
impeachment, who thereupon resigned his situation and proceeded to 
London. 

§ 541. Calonne's successor in the management of the finances, Lo- 
menie de Brienne, was in a difficult position. To cover the deficit in the 
revenue, he was obliged to have recourse to the usual measures, increas- 
ing the taxes and raising a loan, but encountered so violent an opposition 
from the parliament of Paris, that the government determined, since the 
worn out method of compulsion — a royal sitting — no longer availed, 

to arrest the boldest speakers and banish them to Troves. 
August, 1787. rr., . -,. • ■. . ■, 

ihis proceedmg excited a great commotion among the peo- 
ple, which induced the government to arrange a compromise with the 
banished members, and to again sanction the assemblies. But the spirit 
of opposition had become too strong, and had already seized upon the 
people. They formed a tumultuous meeting around the house of as- 
sembly, and saluted the speakers of the opposition with acclamations and 
the government party Avith abuse. They burned the detested minister 
of finance every day in effigy, and in several towns displayed the excited 
state of their minds by riotous proceedings. The cry for the States-Gen- 
eral was heard in the streets as well as in parliament. It was in vain 
that the ministry attempted to overcome the opposition by converting the 

^^^ parliament into an upper court (coiir pUniere) and several 
August, 1/88. . jy . ^ ••■,■,! . /., 

anterior courts ; a new spirit had taken possession oi the na- 

„ . tion, that was at length to gain the victory. Brienne was 

Necker' s . 

second minis- compelled to resign at a time when the scarcity of money 

try, had become so great that all ready money payments were 

^' ^* suspended, and a state bankruptcy appeared inevitable. The 

popular favorite, Necker, was a second time summoned to the 



406 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

ministry. He first allayed the irritation by repealing the resolutions 
against the parliament, and then made preparations for summoning the 
Estates. Owing to this, there soon arose a division between him and the 
parliament and Notables, whom he had again consulted. The latter were 
of opinion that the new assembly should conform itself, both as to the 
number of representatives and the mode of procedure, to the Estates of 
1614, whilst Necker wished to allow a double representation to the third 
Estate, and that they should vote individually, and not as a class ; a 
view that was supported by some of the ablest writers of the nation in a 
multitude of pamphlets. (Abbe Sieyes: "What is the third Estate?") 
Neckei"'s opinion triumphed. An order of the king fixed the number of 
noble and ecclesiastical members at 300 each, that of the citizens at 600, 
December ^'^tl appointed the following May as the time of opening. 
1788. ISTecker was the hero of the day, but he was not the pilot of 

the ship, he only " drove with the wind." 

2. THE PERIOD OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 

§ 542. In the beginning of May, the deputies of the three Estates, and 
among them some of the ablest and most accomplished men of France, 
assembled at Versailles. The third Estate, irritated by the neglect 
of the court at the opening and during the audience, came to a 
rupture with the two privileged Estates at the first sitting, when the 
latter required that the Estates should carry on their debates separately, 
whilst the former insisted upon a general council and individual votes. 
After a contest of some weeks, the third Estate, which had chosen the 
astronomer, Bailli, the freedom-inspired representative of 
Paris, for its President, but which was guided by the superior 
talents of Sieyes and Mirabeau, declared itself a National Assembly, 
■upon which it was joined by portions of the other Estates. The Assem- 
bly at once passed the resolution of allowing the levying of the present 
taxes only so long as the Estates should remain undissolved. This pro- 
ceeding disturbed the court, and inspired it with the thought of granting 
a constitution to the nation, and thus rendering the Estates unnecessary. 
For this purpose, a royal sitting was appointed, and the hall 
of assembly closed for a few days. Upon the intelli- 
gence of this, the deputies proceeded to the empty saloon of the Tennis 
Court, and raised their hands in a solemn vow^ not to separate till they had 
given anew constitution to the nation. When this Court also was closed, 
the meetings were held in the church of St. Louis. The royal sitting took 
place on the 23d of June. But neither the speech of the king, nor the 
sketch of the new constitution, afibrded due satisfaction, and they were 
consequently received with coldness. After the termination of the sitting, 
Louis dissolved the Assembly. The nobility and clergy obeyed, but the 
citizen class retained their seats, and when the master of the ceremonies 



THE FREiSrCH REVOLUTION. 407 

called upon tliem to obey, Mirabeau exclaimed, " Tell your master that 

we sit hex-e by the power of the people, and that we are only to be driven 

out by the bayonet ! " The weak king did not venture to en- 
June 27. , . , . ■, n ■, . .1 1 • J 

counter this resolute resistance by force, but rataer advised 
the nobility and clergy to join the citizens. 

§ 543. The Storming of the Bastille. — During these proceed- 
ings, the fickle populace of Paris were kept in a state of perpetual excite- 
ment by journals, pamphlets, and inflammatory harangues. In the open 
squares, in the coffee-houses, in taverns, and especially in the Palais- 
Royal, the dwelling of the profligate, ambitious, and wealthy duke of Oi*- 
leans, violent discourses were held upon popular freedom, the rights of 
men, and the equality of all classes, by seditious demagogues, and the as- 
sembled crowds were excited to obtain these advantages by violence. 
Among these popular orators, the accomplished advocate, Camille Des- 
moulins, a fanatic in the cause of liberty, was especially preeminent. The 
military who were present in the capital were hurried away by the enthu- 
siasm for liberty, and a portion enrolled themselves in the newly-formed 
National Guard. The government of the city was made over to a demo- 
cratic municipality, at the head of which stood BailH, as mayor. The court, 
alai'med at this increasing ferment, determined upon retiring to Versailles 
with a few regiments of German and Swiss troops. In this proceeding, 
the leaders of the movement believed they saw the purpose of some act of 
violence, and made use of it accordingly to excite fresh irritation. The 
intelligence was spread abroad in Paris, that Necker had been suddenly 
dismissed and banished from the country, and a favorite of the queen 
placed in his office. This was interpreted as the first step in the contem- 
plated outrage, and proved the signal for a general rise. Crowds of the 
lowest mob, wearing the newly-invented national cockade, (blue, white, 
and red,) paraded riotously through the streets, the alarm-bell was 
sounded, the work-shops of the gunsmiths plundered ; tumult and confu- 
sion reigned every where. On the 14th of July, after the populace had 
taken 30,000 stand of arms and some cannon from the Hospital of the 
Invalides, took place the storming of the Bastille, an old castle that served 
as a state prison. The governor, Delaunay, and seven of the garrison, 
fell victims to the popular rage ; their heads were carried through the 
streets ujjon jDoles ; and many men who were hated as aristocrats were 
put to death. The banished Necker was recalled, and his entrance into 
the towns and villages of France was celebrated as that of a hero crowned 
with victory. In this joyous xeception of the minister, the people dis- 
played their enthusiasm for liberty and their hatred to the court and the 
aristocracy. Lafayette, the champion of the liberty of America, was ap- 
pointed commander of the National Guard, and whilst the king returned 
to Paris, and exhibited himself to the assembled people from the balcony 
of the council-house with the cockade in his hat, the count of Artois, 



408 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

and many nobles of the first rank, as Conde, Polignac, left their country 
in mournful anticipation of coming events. 

§ 544. The New Systeji. — Since the storming of the Bastille, the 
laws and magistrates had lost their authority in France, and the power 
lay in the hands of the populace. The country people no longer paid 
their tithes, taxes, and feudal dues to the clergy and nobles, but took ven- 
geance for the long oppression they had suffered by destroying the ma- 
norial castles. When intelligence of these proceedings spread abroad, it 
was proposed, in the National Assembly, that the upper classes should 
prove to the people by their actions, that they were willing to lighten their 
burdens, and that, with this purpose, they should renounce, of their own 
free will, all the inherited feudal privileges of the middle ages. This 
proposal excited a storm of enthusiasm and self-renunciation. None 
would be behind-hand. Estates, towns, provinces, each strove 

"^ " for the honor of making the greatest sacrifices for the com- 
mon good. This was the celebrated 4th of August, -when, in one feverous 
and excited session, all tithes, labor-dues, manorial rights, corporate 
bodies, &c., were abolished, the soil was declared free, and the equality 
of all citizens of the state before the law and in regard to taxation was 
decreed. These resolutions, and the necessary laws and arrangements 
required for their reduction to practice, which were gradually adopted, 
produced in a short time a complete revolution in all existing conditions. 
The Church lost her possessions and was subjected to the state; monas- 
tei-ies and religious orders were dissolved, and the clergy paid by the state, 
the bishoprics newly regulated, and religious freedom established. Priests 
were required to swear allegiance, like ofiicers of state, to the new con- 
stitution ; but as the pope forbade it, the greater number refused the oath, 
which was the occasion of the French clergy being divided into sworn 
and unsworn priests ; the latter lost their offices and were exposed to all 
kinds of persecutions, but enjoyed the confidence of the faithful among 
the people. The noble forfeited not only his privileges and the greater 
part of his income, but he also lost the external distinctions of his rank, 
by the abolition of all titles, coats of arms, orders, &;c. Upon the prin- 
ciple of equality, all Frenchmen were to be addressed as "citizens." For 
the purpose of annihilating every remnant of the ancient system, France 
received a new geographical division into departments and arrondisse- 
ments ; a new system of judicature with jurymen ; equality of weights, 
measures, and standards; and lastly, a constitutional government, in 
which the privileges of royalty were limited more than was reasonable, 
and the legislative power committed to a single chamber, with a universal 
right of suffrage. 

§ 545. The King and the National Assembly at Paris. — 
When the king hesitated to promulgate the resolutions of the Assembly 
as laws, the report was again propagated of a contemplated stroke of 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 409 

state policy. This report gained strength when the Flemish regiment 
was ordered to Versailles, and the king was indiscreet enonsh to show 
himself, with the queen and dauphin, at a feast given by the body-guard 
to the newly-arrived officers, and thus to give occasion to imprudent 
speeches, toasts, and songs, among the assembled troops, who were heated 
with drinking. This occurrence was soon made known by busy tongues 
in Paris, and added to the popular excitement, which had besides been 
increased by a scarcity of bread. Accordingly, on the 5th of October, an 
immense multitude, chiefly of women, proceeded to Versailles to de- 
mand from the king relief from the scarcity of bread, and a return of 
the court to Paris. The king at first attempted to pacify them by a con- 
ciliatory answer. But a wing of the palace was stormed during the 
night, and the guard put to the sword ; the arrival of Lafayette, with 
the National Guard, prevented any further mischief. Upon the follow- 
ing day, the king was obliged to consent to proceed to Paris with his 
family, under the escort of this frightful crew, and to take up his resi- 
dence in the Tuileries, which had for many years remained unoccupied. 
Shortly after, the National Assembly also followed, for whom the riding- 
school in the neighborhood of the palace had been prepared. The power 
now fell more and more into the hands of the lower class, who were 
kept in perpetual excitement by licentious journalists and popular lead- 
ers, and were goaded to hatred against the court and the " aristocrats." 
The " Friend of the People," of the insolent Marat, a physician from 
Neuchatel, was distinguished by its violence. The democratic clubs, 
which increased every day in extent and influence, also aided the revolu- 
tion. The Jacobin club, in particular, which had branches in all the 
towns of France, acquired a place in the history of the world. The 
members, who wore the red cap of the convicts of the galleys as a distinc- 
tion, aimed at a republic, with freedom and equality for all the "citizens." 
With these was joined the club of Cordeliers, which numbered some of 
the most daring men of the revolution, as Danton and Camille Desmou- 
lins, among its members. The Constitutional club, on the other hand, to 
which Lafayette had joined himself, declined in importance every day. 

§ .54G. The Ceremony of Federation. — Flight of the. King. 
T 1 -,, ,-.. On the day of the year in which the Bastille was taken, a 

July 14, 1(90. 1 1- 1 ■ n ■ 

grand federative festival was arranged in the Champ de 
Mars. It must have been a moving spectacle, when Talleyrand, at the 
head of 300 priests, clothed in white, and girded with tri-colored scarfs, 
performed the consecration of the banner at the altar of the country ; 
when Lafayette, in the name of the National Guard, the president of 
the National Assembly, and, at length, the king himself, vowed fidelity 
to the Constitution ; when the innumerable multitude raised their hands 
aloft and repeated after him the oath of citizenship, and the queen her- 
self, carried away by enthusiasm, raised the Dauphin in the air and 

35 



410 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

joined in the acclamations. This was the last day of happiness for the 
king, whose situation after this grew constantly worse. Necker, no longer 
equal to the difficulties, left France and retired to Switzerland. Mira- 
beau, won over by the court, opposed farther encroachments upon the 
kingly power with the whole of his eloquence, inasmuch as he believed 
a constitutional monarchy and not a republic to be the best government 

for France. Unfortunately for the kinfr, this great man died, 
Apry2, 1791. .,.,., , / -1 T ^. \ I- r 

m his torty-second year, ot a sickness brought on by his dis- 
orderly life and by over-exertion. A splendid funeral ceremony gave 
evidence of the influence of the man in whom sank the last strong pillar 
of the throne. Weak and unselfreliant as Louis XVI. was, he now 
lost all firmness. By bis refusal to receive an unsworn priest as his 
confessor, or to declare the emigrants traitors, who were endeavoring 
from Coblentz to excite the European courts to a crusade against France, 
he excited a suspicion that he was not honestly a supporter of the con- 
stitution he had sworn to maintain, and not altogether ignorant of the 
efforts of the emigrants. The more this suspicion gained ground with 
the people, the more perilous became the position of the king. At this 
crisis, Louis embraced the desperate resolution of secretly flying to the 
northern frontier of his kingdom. Bouille, a resolute general in Lor- 
raine, was let into the secret, and promised to support the scheme with 
his troops. Leaving behind him a letter, in which he protested against 
all the acts which had been forced from him since October, 1789, the 
Idng happily escaped, with his family, from Paris in a large carriage. 

But the clumsily executed project nevertheless miscarried. 
June 21 1791. i^ ^ 

' " Louis was recognized in St. Menehould by the postmaster, 

Drouet, stopped by the militia at Varennes, and led back to Paris at the 
command of the National Assembly, who sent three of their members, 
and among them, Petion, to receive the royal family. The suspension 
of the royal authority, which had already been pronounced by the As- 
sembly, remained in force, till Louis proclaimed, and swore to observe, 
the Constitution completed at the end of September. 



O. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY 
(OCTOBER 1, 1791 SEPTEMBER 20, 1792.) 

§ 547. The Girondists. — As the members of the Constituent As- 
sembly had voluntarily excluded themselves from the new Chamber, the 
elections to the Legislative Assembly, which were carried on under the in- 
fluence of the Jacobins, mostly terminated in favor of the republicans. 
These latter, however, soon divided into a radical-democratic and a mo- 
derate party : the former, from its position in the House, was called the 
Mountain ; the latter received the name of Girondists, because many of 
its speakers were from Bordeaux and the department of the Gironde. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 411 

Among the latter, who, at the commencement, assembled themselves 
around the minister, Roland, and his intelligent and high-minded wife, 
were men of great oratorical talents and exalted civic virtues, as Verg- 
niaud, Lanjuinais, Barbaroux, Brissot, &c. The Girondists formed the 
majority, and the ministry, consisting of Roland, Dumourier, &c., be- 
longed to this party. 

The attention of the government and the Assembly was particularly 
directed to the priests, who had refused the oath, and to the emigrants. 
Both were endeavoring to overthi-ow the existing order of things : the 
former by exciting hatred and discontent among the French people ; the 
latter by making military preparations at Coblentz, and endeavoring to 
stir up foreign powers to an armed invasion of France. The Assembly 
therefore determined upon seeking out and arresting the unsworn priests, 
and declaring the emigrants traitors and conspirators, and punishing them 
by the loss of their estates and incomes. The king put his veto upon 
both these resolutions, and prevented their execution. This refusal was 
ascribed to the secret hopes, entertained by the court, of assistance from 
foreign powers and of the triumph of the emigrants, and thus the temper 
of the people grew continually more hostile. It was also known that the 
queen was in correspondence with her brother, the emperor of Austria, 
and that she looked for support and safety to the emigrant nobility. Nei- 
ther was it any longer doubtful that war must soon break out, since the 
emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia, after a conference in Pillnitz 
(August, 1791,) were making preparations, and demanded of the French 
government not only to make behtting indemnification to the German 
princes and nobles who had suiFered loss by the abolition of tithes and 
feudal burdens, and to restore the province of Avignon, that had been 
wrested from the pope, but to arrange the government upon the plan 
proposed by the king himself in June, 1789. These demands were fol- 
April 20, lowed by a declaration of war against Austria and Prussia 

1V92. on the part of the French government, to which the king 

yielded his consent with tears. For the purpose of securing the capital 
and the National Assembly against any attack, it was resolved to sum- 
mon 20,000 of the federates from the southern provinces, under pretence 
of celebrating the festival of the Bastille, and to commit the defence of 
Paris to them. But Louis refused his consent to this resolution also. 
Upon this, the Girondist ministers laid down their offices, after Madame 
Roland had reproached and reprimanded the king in a letter that was 
soon in the hands of every body. These proceedings increased the irri- 
tation to such an extent that it became easy for the republicans to ex- 
cite a popular insurrection. On the 20th of June, the anniversary of 
the meeting in the Tennis Court, the terrible mob, armed with pikes, 
marched from the subui-bs, under the conduct of the brewer, Santerre, 
and the butcher, Legendre, into the Tuileries, to force the king to con- 



412 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

firm the decree against the unsworn priests and for the summoning of 
the National Guard. But here also Louis remained firm. He defied 
for several hours all threats and dangers, and endured the insolence of 
the mob, who even placed the red Jacobin cap upon his head and gave 
him wine to drink, with the courage of a martyr. The rather tardy 
arrival of Petion with the National guard at length freed him from his 
perilous position. 

§ 548. These proceedings were the prelude to the eventful tenth of 
August. War had already commenced, to the great joy of the Prus- 
sian officers, who promised themselves great glory and little trouble from 
the "military promenade," as they called the French campaign. The 
Prussians marched into Lorraine under the command of duke Ferdinand 
of Brunswick, who had become known in the Seven Years' war. An 
Austrian force, under Clerfait, was placed at his command ; 12,000 emi- 
grants joined themselves to him, who were burning with eagerness to 
overthrow the " government of advocates," and to have vengeance upon 
their enemies. On setting out, the duke published a manifesto, drawn 
up by one of the emigrants, full of injurious menaces against the National 
Assembly, the city of Paris, the National Guard, and all the French 
who favored the new system. The insolent tone of this proclamation 
made an indescribable impression upon the people, who were enthusiastic 
for the new order of things, and produced the fiercest rage against the 
emigrants and their defenders. This feeling was taken advantage of by 
the Jacobins for the overthrow of the king. Supported by the declara- 
tion of the Assembly, " The country is in danger," they summoned from 
Marseilles, Bi-est, and other maritime towns, crowds of the lowest refuse 
of the people, even galley-slaves, to Paris, then formed a committee of 
insurrection, and prepared the rude and sturdy inhabitants of the su- 
burbs for a decisive blow. The alarm sounded at midnight on the 10th 
of August. A fearful mob proceeded, in the first place, to the Hotel de 
Ville, for the purpose of establishing a new democratic municipality, and 
then marched to the royal palace, which was defended by 900 Swiss, 
and the Parisian National Guard under the command of Mandat. The 
honest Mandat was resolved to check the advancing masses, which were 
ever assuming a more menacing aspect, by force ; his destruction was 
consequently resolved upon by the democrats. He v.'as commanded to 
appear at the Hotel de Ville, and assassinated on his Avay thither ; upon 
which the National Guard, uncertain what to do, and disgusted by the 
presence of a number of nobles in the palace, for the most part dispersed. 
The mob constantly assumed a more threatening aspect ; cannon were 
turned upon the palace, the pikemen pressed forwards upon every en- 
trance, the people loudly demanded the deposition of the king. At this 
crisis, Louis sutfered himself to be persuaded to seek for protection with 
his family in the ball of the National Assembly, where they passed six- 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 413 

teen hours in a narrow closet. The king had scarcely left the palace, 
before the tumultuous multitude pressed forward more violently ; the 
Swiss guard maintained a gallant resistance, and defended the entrance. 
• When the report of musketry was heard in the adjoining Assembly, the 
indignant representatives of the people compelled the intimidated king 
to give his guard orders to cease firing. By this order, the faithful de- 
fenders of monarchy were doomed to destruction. Scarcely had the 
furious mob observed that the enemy's fire had ceased, before they 
stormed the palace, slaughtered those they found in it, and destroyed the 
furniture. Nearly 5,000 men, and among them, 700 Swiss, fell in the 
struggle, or died afterwards, the victims of the popular fury. In the 
mean time, the National Assembly, upon the proposal of Vergniaud, 
embraced the resolution " to suspend the royal authority, to place the 
king and his family under control, to give the prince a tutor, and to 
assemble a National Convention." The Temple, a strong fortress 
erected by the knights templai's, soon enclosed the imprisoned royal 
family. 

§ 549. The Days of September. — After the suspension of the 
king, a new ministry was formed by the National Assembly, in which, 
by the side of the Girondist, Roland, and others, the terrible Danton 
held office as minister of justice. This ministry, and the new Common 
Council of Paris which had appointed itself, and which, after the 10th 
of August, had strengthened itself by members who might be depended 
upon as hesitating at no wickedness, now possessed the whole power. 
The Municipal Council ordered the police of the capital to be conducted 
by pikemen, and the prisons were quickly filled with the "suspected" 
and " aristocl-ats." It was now that the frightful resolution was matured 
of getting rid of the opponents of the new order of things by a bloody 
tribunal, and of suppressing all resistance by terror. After the recusant 
priests had been slaughtered by hundreds in the monasteries and prisons, 
the dreadful days of September were commenced. From the 2d to 
the 7th of September, bands of hired murderers and villains were collected 
round the prisons. Twelve of them acted as jurymen and judge, the 
others as executioners. The imprisoned, with the exception of a few 
whose names were marked upon a list, were put to death by this in- 
human crew under a semblance of judicial proceedings. Nearly 3,000 
human beings were either put to death singly, or slaughtered in masses, 
by these wretches, who received a daily stipend from the Common Coun- 
cil for their " labors." Among the murdered was the princess Laml)alle, 
the friend of the queen ; a troop of pikemen carried her head upon a 
pole to the Temple, and held it before Maria Antoinette's window. The 
example of the capital was imitated in many of the departments. The 
barbarous destruction of all statues, coats of arms, inscriptions, and othei* 
memorials of a former period, formed the conclusion of the August and 

35* 



414 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

September days, which were the transition period between the French 

monarchy and republic. The autumnal equinox was distinguished as 

the commencement of the reign of liberty and equality under 
September 21. , , ,. ^^ ■ ^ n .■ >■ J 

the republican JNiitional Convention. 

Lafayette, who was serving with the northern army, and who, after 
the days of June, had returned to Paris on his own responsibility, for 
the purpose, if possible, of saving the king, was now summoned before 
the National Assembly to answer for his conduct. Convinced that the 
Jacobins were seeking his death, he fled, with some friends who shared 
his sentiments, to Holland, that he might escape to America ; but he fell 
into the hands of enemies, who treated him like a prisoner of war, and 
allowed him to live for live years in the dungeons of Olmutz and Mag- 
deburg. Talleyrand repaired to England, and thence to America, where 
he awaited better times. 

4. REPUBLICAN FRANCE UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
CONVENTION (SEPTEMBER, 1792 OCTOBER, 1795). 

§ 550. Execution of the King. — The new Assembly, which, 
under the influence of the Jacobins, had been elected by universal suf- 
frage, was composed almost exclusively of republicans, but of different 
dispositions and opinions. The moderates, Girondists, who were aiming 
at a republican form of government upon the model of antiquity, or upon 
that of the North Americans, and who abhorred bloodshed as a means, 
gradually fell before the radicals and democrats, who first overthrew by 
violence all the existing arrangements, and then sought to found a new 
system of "liberty and equality" upon the levelled surface. They acted 
upon the principle, " that he who is not for us is against us," and at- 
tempted to bear down all opposition by terror and bloodshed. Strong in 
the Jacobin clubs and in the Avild bands of the numerous defenders of 
the revolution, who were distinguished by the name of " Sans-Culottes," 
and who were maintained in a constant state of excitement by songs 
(Marseillaise, Ca ira), revolution festivals, trees of liberty, and such 
matters, the destructive party soon obtained the upper hand. The trial 
of the king, " Louis Capet," was one of the first proceedings of the 
National Convention. An iron safe had been discovered in a wall of 
the Tuileries, containing secret letters and documents, from which it was 
apparent that the French court had not only been in alliance with 
Austria and the emigrants, and had projected plans for overthrowing the 
Constitution that had been sworn to by Louis, but that it had also at- 
tempted to win over single members of the National Assembly (for exam- 
ple, Mirabeau), by annuities, bribery, and other means. It was upon this 
that the republicans, who would willingly have been quit of the king, 
founded a charge of treason and cons{)iracy against the country and the 
people. Louis, with the assistance of two advocates, to whom the noble 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 415 

Malasherbes, of his own free impulse, associated himself, appeared twice 
before the Convention (11th and 26tli December), but despite his own 
dignified bearing and defence, and despite the efforts of the Girondist 
party to have the sentence referred to a general assembly of the people, 
Jantiarv 17 Louis was condemned to death in a stormy meeting, by a 
1793^. small majority of five voices. The party of the Mountain, 

where the advocate, Maximilian Robespierre, the former marquis St. 
Just, the frightful Danton, the lame Couthon, and the duke of Orleans, 
who had assumed the name of Citizen Egalite, were the leaders* and 
chiefs, had left no means unattempted to produce this result by terror ; 
they would, nevertheless, have failed in their purpose, had they not car- 
ried a resolution beforehand in the Assembly, that a bare majority should 
be sufficient for a sentence of death, and not, as had heretofore been the 
custom, that two thirds of the votes should be necessary. The murder 
was thus veiled by a show of justice. On the 21st of January, the un- 
fortunate king ascended the scaffold in the square of the Revolution. 
The drums of the National Guard drowned his last words, and " Robes- 
pierre's women " greeted his bloody head with the shout of " Vive la 
Republique." 

§ 551. DuMOUPaER. — In the mean time, the Prussians had marched 
through Lorraine into Champagne. But the duke of Brunswick, accus- 
tomed to the slow^ and circumspect proceedings of the Seven Years' war, 
wasted time in the conquest of unimportant fortresses, and entered 
Champagne in an unfavorable period of the year, when the roads were 
impassable from the rain, and the army was weakened and destroyed by 
September 20, the use of unwholesome provisions and of unripe fruit. After 
i'^^^- the battle of Valmy, where Dumourier and Kellerman suc- 

cessfully repulsed the attack of the enemy, the Prussian generals relin- 
quished the idea of any farther advance, and concluded a compromise 
with Dumourier, by which the Prussians were assured of an uninter- 
rupted retreat. The Austrians, who had marched from the Netherlands, 

met with no better success. After the battle of Jemappes, 

November 6. . i t^ , • , t • i i -i 

Dumourier conquered Belgium and Liege, and threatened 

the frontiers of Holland, whilst the hussar-general, Custine, made him- 

Octobcr 21, self master of the towns on the Rhine, and gained the for- 

^''•''■^- tress of Mayence, where there were many adherents of the 

ideas of freedom and equality, for the French republic. The citizens of 

Mayence, deserted by their elector, their clergy, and the nobility, received 

the French troops with enthusiasm. George Foster, the cii-cumnavigatorof 

the globe, was the soul of the republican party in Mayence. This success 

of the French arms inspired the republicans with fresh courage, and the 

powers of Europe with fresh alarm. Were they to look quietly on, 

whilst a king was murdered in a revolting manner in Paris, whilst the 

revolutionists, intoxicated with success, called upon the people every- 



416 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

where to overthrow their monarchical governments, and promised them 
the protection of the French nation in establishing their republics? The 
enthusiasm of the people for the new ideas gave great assistance to the 
republican arms : not only the thrones of kings and the dominions of 
princes, but the privileges and possessions of the nobility and clergy, 
were in peril. Fresh armies from all parts of Europe were therefore 
marched across the French frontiers, for the purpose of suppressing a 
revolution which endangered the peace and security of other states. Eng- 
land, where the Tories, under the guidance of the younger Pitt, were in 
possession of the government, and where the orator, Edmund Burke, 
once the advocate of the American War of Liberty both in speech and 
writing, took the field against the Revolution, and solemnly separated 
himself from his old friend, Fox, the leader of the liberal Whigs, headed 
the " Coalition " against France. English subsidies soon gave fresh life 
to the war. An Austrian army appeared in the Netherlands under the 
prince of Coburg, who was assisted by Clerfait and the Archduke Charles, 
March 18, drove back the French over the Maase, and defeated Dumou- 
1793. j.jer at Neerwinden. This defeat was ascribed by Dumou- 

rier principally to the Jacobins, because they had corrupted the army, 
had neglected the necessary military supplies, and had placed an incom- 
petent coadjutor by his side. In his disgust^ he allowed it to appear 
pretty unequivocally that he meditated the overthrow of the republican 
constitution, and the reiistablishment of a king (for which office he had 
selected the duke of Orleans, or his son, Louis Philippe.) The Conven- 
tion, apprised of this intention, impeached the general, and required his 
presence in Paris to answer for himself. But instead of obeying the 
summons, Dumourier ordered the ambassadors of the Convention to be 
seized and delivered up to the enemy, and then went over with a part 
of his troops to the Austrians. 

About the same time, Mayence, after the most obstinate defence, and 
after enduring the exti-emities of famine, fell again into the hands of the 
Prussians, who once more approached the frontiers of France. 

§ 552. Dumourier's treachery was employed by the Jacobins for the 
overthrow of the Girondists, to which party Dumourier had belonged. 
The Girondists, enraged at the increasing power of the populace in Paris, 
and the unbridled acts of violence committed by the mob, entertained the 
project of converting France into a republican union like North America, 
and by this means, destroying the supremacy of the capital. The Moun- 
tain and the Jacobins, who saw that this scheme would weaken the revo- 
lutionary power of France, and endanger the future of the democratic re- 
public, commenced a war of life and death with the Girondists (also cal- 
led Brissotins) upon this point. They accused them of an understanding 
with Dumourier, they reproached them with weakening the power of the 
people, and destroying the republic at a moment when France was 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 417 

threatened with enemies both within and without ; and when all these 
attacks were ignominiously repulsed by the victorious eloquence of the Gi- 
rondists, the savage Marat, in his " Friend of the People," called upon 
the populace to rise against the moderate and lukewarm, and thus gave 
occasion to daily riots and tumults, which disturbed the capital and en- 
dangered life and property. All moderate and reputable people were 
in continual peril. It was in vain that the Girondists succeeded in 
having Marat brought before a court of justice, he was acquitted by the 
Jacobins, and carried back to the Convention in triumph by the people ; 
it was in vain that the Girondists procured the appointment of a Com- 
mission of Twelve, who were to discover and punish the exciters of the 
tumult. When the Commission ordered Hebert, who, in his vulgar and 
libellous journal, " Pere Duchesne," excited the people to tumult and 
murder, and some of his associates, to be imprisoned, the raging mob 
compelled their release, and then arranged the great insurrection of the 
31st of May and 1st of June. They made the branded Henriot, who 
had first been a lacquey, then a smuggler, and lastly a spy of the police, 
commander of the National Guard. Under his guidance, the innumerable 
multitude of the sans-culottes surrounded the Tuileries, where the Con- 
vention was holding; its meetinsr, and demanded with threats the abolition 
of the Commission of Twelve, and the exclusion of the Girondists and 
the moderates. It was in vain that the latter employed the whole force 
of their eloquence to induce the Assembly not to consent to the demands 
of the people: the mob pressed into the hall and the galleries, and de- 
manded its sacrifice with wild shouts and cries. It was in vain that the 
majority of the Assembly, the courageous president, Herault, at their 
head, attempted to leave the apartment where they could no longer de- 
bate in freedom; driven back by Henriot, nothing was left to them but 
to consent to the demands of the people and the party of the Mountain, 
and to admit the supremacy of the mob. Thirty-four Girondists were 
immediately thrust out and imprisoned ; twenty of them (Pction, Guadet, 
and Barbaroux, were of the number) escaped, and summoned the inhabit- 
ants of Normandy, Bretagne, and the maritime cities of the south, to 
take up arms against the Jacobins ; the remainder died some time after 
on the guillotine. The assassination of Marat, by the noble Charlotte 
Corday, who was inspired by a spirit of genuine liberty, and a frightful 
civil war, were the first results of this act of violence. Most of the 
escaped Girondists also died violent deaths, by their own hands or those 
of others. Thus died Poland, Petion, Barbaroux, Condorcet, and 
others. Madame Roland also died on the guillotine. Seventy-three 
members of the Convention, who had sided with the Girondists, were 
also expelled, so that the Convention was now entirely ruled by the demo- 
crats of the Mountain. 

§ 553. The Reign of the Jacobins. — The National Convention 
4 



418 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

acquired greater unanimity by the exclusion of the Girondists and the 
moderates ; so that, from this time, it was 'enabled to develop a frightful 
power and activity. For the purpose of better superintending and con- 
ducting its multitudinous aftairs, it resolved itself into committees, of 
which the committee of public safety and that of public security acquired 
a frightful celebrity by the persecution of every one opposed to the new 
order of things. A revolutionary tribunal, consisting of twelve jurymen 
and five judges, to which that man of blood, Fouquier Tinville, occupied 
the office of public accuser, seconded the activity of these committees by 
a cruel and summary administration of justice. At the head of the com- 
mittee of public safety stood three men, whose names became tlie terror 
and horror of all just men ; the envious and malignant Robespierre, the 
bloodthirsty Couthon, and the fanatic for republican liberty and equality, 
St. Just. They pursued their bloody object without regard to human 
life; every thing that ventured to oj^pose their storm.y course Avas unpity- 
ingly hurled down. Thus originated the terrible period of the years '93 
and '94, which displayed itself in three different directions — within, by 
a cruel persecution of all citizens who were known as aristocrats or fa- 
vorers of royalty, and by a bloody suppression of insurrections in the 
south and west ; without, by a vigorous defensive war against innumerable 
enemies. 

§ 554. — 1. Persecution of Aristocrats. — Since the municipal 
government in Paris had been in the exclusive possession of Jacobins 
and democrats of the extreme class, since democratical committees had 
had the political supervision of all the sections, since, besides the National 
Guard, a revolutionary army of sans-culottes had stood at the disposal of 
the republican government, the whole power had been in the hands of 
the populace and their frantic leaders. The Jacobin clubs in Pai'is and 
the provincial cities possessed the government ; their orators and presi- 
dents executed, with the aid of the people, the most sanguinary outrages 
upon all who were not of their own party. The most effectual means 
of destroying all opponents was the frightful law against the suspected, 
which threatened with death all " enemies of the country," all who mani- 
fested any attachment to the former condition of things, or to the priest- 
hood or the nobility. In consequence of this and similar laws, the pri- 
sons were filled with thousands of so-called aristocrats; and forty or sixty 
men were daily dragged to the guillotine. All those Avho were distin- 
guished from the ruling democracy by rank, wealth, refinement, or no- 
bility of mind, stood in continual peril of their lives. The malicious 
slander of an enemy, the accusation of a spy, the hatred of a sans-culotte, 
were sufficient to bring an innocent man to prison, and from prison to 
the scaffold. The transition was so sudden, that death lost its terrors, 
and the prison became the scenes of cheerful and refined society, and of 
intellectual conversation. The most noble and distinguished men of Finance 



THE FRERCn EEVOLUTION. 419 

were among the victims. The former minister, Malasherbes, the mem- 
bers of the Constituent Assembly, Bailli, Barnave, &c., all who belonged 
to the old monarchy, and who had not saved themselves by flight, died 
by the guillotine. Among them was the severely-tried queen, Marie 
Antoinette, who displayed, during her trial and at her exe- 
cution, a firmness and strength ot soul that was worthy or 
her education and her birth. Her son died beneath the cruel treatment 
of a Jacobin ; her daughter (the duchess of Angoulerae) carried a gloomy 
spirit and an embittered heart with her to the grave. Louis XVI.'s 
May 10, piousi sister, Elizabeth, also died on the scaffold ; the head 

1794. of the profligate duke of Orleans, whom even the favor of 

Danton could not preserve from the envy of Robespierre, liad fiillen be- 
fore her own. 

§555. — 2. Outrages in the South. — The bloody rule of the 
Mountain party displayed itself in its most frightful excess in the sup- 
pression of the revolt against the reign of terror. When the inhabitants 
of Normandy and Bretagne rose in support of the excluded Girondists, 
the committee of public safety ordered the district between the Seine, 
the Loire, and the extreme sea-coast, to be visited with blood and 
slaughter by the terrible Carrier. This monster ordered, at Nantes, his 
victims to be di'owned by hundreds in the Loire, by means of ships with 
movable bottoms (noyades). The pi-oceedings of the Jacobins in the 
cities of the south, Lyons, Marseilles, and Toulon, were still more bai*ba- 
rous. Li the first of these towns, Chalier, who had formerly been a 
priest, and now was president of the Jacobin club, excited the people by 
scandalous placards to plunder and destroy the "aristocrats." L-ritated 
at this audacity, the respectable and wealthy citizens of Lyons, who were 
^ thus menaced in their lives and property, procured the exe- 
cution of the demagogue. This deed filled the Parisian ter- 
rorists with fui-y. A republican army appeared before the walls of the 
town, which, after an obstinate contest, was taken and fearfully punished. 
Freron, a companion of Marat, Fouche, Couthon, and others, caused the 
inhabitants to be shot down in crowds, because the guillotine was too 
tedious in its operations ; whole streets were either pulled down or blown 
into the air with gunpowder. The goods of the rich wei-e divided 
among the populace ; Lyons was to be annihilated, reduced to a name- 
less common. The republicans raged in a similar way in Marseilles and 
Toulon. The royalists of Toulon had called upon the English for assist- 
ance, and surrendered to them their town and harbor. Confident in 
this assistance, and in the strength of their walls, the citizens of Toulon 
bade defiance to their republican enemies. But the army of sans-culottes, 
in which the young Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte, exhibited the first 
proofs of his military talents, overcame all obstacles. Toulon was storm- 
ed. The English, unable to maintain the town, set fire to the fleet, and 



420 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

left the unfortunate inliabitants to the frightful vengeance of the 
Convention. Here also the barbarous Freron ordered all the wealthy- 
citizens to be shot, and their property to be divided among the sans- 
culottes. The respectable inhabitants tied, and abandoned the city to the 
mob and the galley-slaves. Tallien behaved in a similar manner in 
Bourdeaux ; and in the north of France, Lebon marched from place to 
place with a guillotine. 

§ 556. Scenes of blood in La Vendee. — But the fate of La 
Vendee was the most frightful. This singular country^, situated in the 
west of France, was covered with woods, hedges, and thickets, and inter- 
sected by ditches. Here dwelt a contented people, in rural quietude, and 
in the simplicity of the olden time. The peasants and tenants were at- 
tached to their landlords ; they loved the king ; and clung with reverence 
to their clergy and their church usages, which had been dear and sacred 
to them from their youth. When the National Assembly slaughtered 
or expelled their unsworn priests, when the blood of their king was 
poured out on the guillotine, when the children of the peasants were 
called away, by a general summons, to the army — then the enraged 
people roused themselves to resistance and civil conflict. Lender brave 
leaders, of undistinguished birth, as Charette, Stofflet, Cathelineau, who 
were joined by a few nobles, Laroche-Jaquelein, D'Elbee, &c., they at 
first drove back the republican army, conquered Saumur, and threatened 
Nantes. Upon this, the Convention despatched a revolutionary army to 
La Vendee, under the command of Westermann and the frantic Jacobins, 
Ronsin and Rossignol. These fell upon the inhabitants like wild beasts, 
set fire to towns, villages, farms, and Avoods, and attempted to overcome 
the resistance of the " royalists " by terror and outrage. But the courage 
of the Vendean peasants remained unsubdued. It was not until 
general Kleber marched against La Vendee with the brave troops who 
had returned to their homes after the surrender of Mayence, that this 
unfortunate people gradually succumbed to the attacks of their enemies, 
after the land had become a desert, and thousands of the inhabitants had 
saturated the soil with their blood. La Vendee, however, was only re- 
stored to tranquillity when Hoche, who was equally renowned for his 
courage and philanthropy, assumed the command of the army, offered 
peace to those who were weary of the contest, and reduced the refractory 
to submission. Stofilet and Charette were made prisoners of war, and 

shot. 

§ 557. Fall of the Dantonists. — The rage and cruelty of the 
Jacobins at length excited the disgust of the chiefs of the Cordeliers, 
Danton and Camille Desmoulins. The former, who was rather a volup- 
tuary than a tyrant, and who was capable of kindly feelings, had grown 
weary of slaughter, and had retired into the country for a few months 
with a young wife, to enjoy the wealth and happiness that the revolution 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTTOX. 421 

had brought him ; but Camille Desmoulins, in his much read paper, 
" The Old Cordeher," applied the passages where the Roman historian, 
Tacitus, describes the tyranny and crueky of Tiberius, so appropriately 
to his own times, that the application to the three chiefs of the committee 
of safety and their laws against the suspected was not to be mistaken. 
This enraged the Jacobins ; and when, about this time, several friends 
and adherents of Danton (Fabre d'Eglantine, Chabot, &c.) were guilty 
of deceit and corruption in connection with the abolition of the East In- 
dia Company, and others gave offence by their sacrilegious proceedings, 
the committee of safety made use of the opportunity to destroy the 
whole party of Danton. For since the Convention had altered the ca- 
lendar and the names of the months, had made the year commence on 
the 22nd of September, had abolished the observance of Sunday and the 
festivals, and introduced in their place the decades and sans-culotte feasts, 
many Dantonists, like Hebert, Chaumette, Momoro, Cloots, and others, 
had occasioned great scandal by their animosity to priests and Christian- 
ity. They desecrated and plundered the churches, ridiculed the mass 
vestments and the church utensils, which they carried through the streets 
in blasphemous processions, raged with the spirit of Vandals against all 
the monuments of Christianity, and at length carried a resolution 
through the Convention, that the Avorship of Reason should be intro- 
duced in place of the catholic service of God. A solemn festival, in 
which Momoro's pretty wife personated the Goddess of Reason in the 
church of Notre Dame, marked the commencement of this new religion. 
Robespierre, who plumed himself upon his reputation for virtue, because 
he was not a participator in the excesses or avarice of Danton and his 
associates, took offence at these proceedings. He determined to destroy 
their originators, and in their fall to involve the destruction of Desmou- 
lins and Danton, before whose powerful natures his own spirit, which was 
filled with envy and ambition, stood abashed. Scarcely, therefore, had 
March, 1794. ^'^"^0" resumed his seat in the Convention, before St. Just 
began the violent struggle by a remarkable proposal, in which 
he divided the enemies of the republic into three classes, the corrupt, 
the ultra-revolutionary, and the moderates, and insisted upon their pun- 
ishment. This proposal resulted in nineteen of the ultra-revolutionaries, 
and among them Cloots, Momoro, Ronsin, and several members of the 
Common Council, being led to the guillotine on the 19th of March. On 
the 31st of April, the corrupt were phiced before the Revolutionary Tri- 
bunal, and Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Herault de Sechelles, Sec. were 
maliciously distinguished as their partisans and involved in their fate. 
But Danton and Desmoulins, supported by a raging mob that were de- 
voted to them, demanded with vehemence that their accusers should be 
confronted with them. For three days, Danton's voice of thunder and 
the tumult among the populace rendered his condemnation impossible. 

36 



422 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

For the first time, the bloody men of the Revolutionary Tribunal be- 
came confused. The Convention at length, by a law of its own, gave 
the Tribunal the power of condemning the accused who were endeavor- 
ing to subvert the existing order of things by an insurrection, without 
further hearing ; upon which the blood-stained heroes of the 10th of 
August and the days of September, who during their trial had shown 
that a lofty spirit might dwell even in the bosom of criminals, were led 

to the guillotine and beheaded, with a crowd of inferior He- 
April 5, 1794. , . r^, ■,.-,., -, , . 

bertists. Ihey died with courage and resolution. 

§ 558. — 3. Wars of the Republic. First Coalition. — Whilst 
these bloody proceedings were going on within, the armies of almost all 
the nations of Europe were marching upon the frontiers of France. 
The Dutch, Austrians, and English were in the Netherlands ; Dutch, 
Prussian, and Austrian troops crossed the Rhine ; Sardinia threatened 
the south-east; and Spanish and Portuguese armies occupied the Pyre- 
nees : at the same time, the English government, conducted by Pitt, 
sought to destroy the naval power of France, to conquer her colonies, 
and to keep the war alive by large subsidies to the continental powers. 
At first, the arms of the allies met with some success ; Alsace and Flan- 
ders fell into their hands, and the way to Paris stood open. But want 
of union and want of system prevented any brilliant success, although 
the new method of warfare had not yet been created in France. The 
republicans wished to gain the victory by terror. General Beauharnois, 
who arrived too late to relieve Mayence, died on the guillotine ; Custine 
and his son experienced the same fate ; Houchard, the victor over the 
September 8, Dutch and Hanoverians at Handschooten, had a similar fate 
1793. Avhen he was afterwards obliged to retire before the superior 

Kovembcr force of the enemy ; and Iloche expiated in prison the de- 
28 - 30. ^^^^ suffered by the Hollanders and Prussians at Kaiserslau- 

tern. But the brave and active Carnot now took his seat in the commit- 
tee of safety, and gave unity and system to the military operations. The 
whole nation was interested in the war by a general summons ; the newly 
acquired freedom awakened courage and enthusiasm among the troops ; 
fanatical bands were now opposed to the enemy in masses, and no longer 
in small divisions ; and the greatest commanders of the century rose from 
the ranks. The generals with their antiquated tactics, and Avith soldiers 
who fought for pay, and not for liberty or their fatherland, could not 
maintain their gi'ound. Jourdain compelled the evacuation 
' ' of Belgium in June, after the battle of Fleurus ; and, by the 
bejrinnin'x of autumn, the Austrian Netherlands and the frontier fortresses 
of Holland were in the hands of the French. It thus became practica- 
ble for General Pichegru to undertake a daring expedition in December 
and January across the frozen Avaters, against the States-General of 
Holland. Pichegru, with an army that was suffering from a want of 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 423 

clothing and provisions, made himself master of the rich land, drove the 
hereditary Stadtholder to England, and brought about the establishment 
of a Batavian Republic, with democratic rights, with trees of liberty, 
and popular Clubs. From this time, Holland remained united with 
France ; and not only were the French troops clothed and maintained at 
the cost of the country, and vast sums sent to Paris to defray the expen- 
ses of the war, but the English at the same time seized upon the Dutch 
ships and colonies, so that the unfortunate country was a sufferer on all 
hands. 

§ 559. The Peace of Basle. — The French arms were equally 

successful on the Rhine. The Austrian and Prussian troops retreated 

^ across the German river in October, and abandoned the 

further side to the French. Shortly after, the Prussian 

government, which was busied with the proceedings in Poland 

. . ^ commenced negotiations with France which led to the peace 
April 5 li'SB. 

of Basle. By this disgraceful peace, not only was the left 
bank of the Rhine, together with Holland, abandoned to the enemy, but 
the northern portion of Germany separated by a line of demarcation 
from the southern. Whilst the war was carried on in the latter, the 
former was declared neutral territory. The Austrians, on the other 
hand, under the conduct of the brave leaders Clerfait and Wurmser, con- 
tinued the war with greater energy. After Clerfait's victory over 
Pichegru at Handschuchsheim, the imperialists took Heidelberg, which 
September 24, was in the possession of the French, and, after a frightful 

1795. bombardment of several days, the strong town of Mannheim, 
which, with its abundant military provisions, had been disgracefully sur- 
rendered to the enemy at the first summons by the governor, Palgrave 
Oberndorf. A part of the town was in ruins when the Germans again 
entered it. The archduke Charles, the brother of the emperor, gave 
September 3, splendid proofs of distinguished military talents. He de- 
l'''96- feated Jourdain at Wiirzburg, and compelled him to a hasty 
retreat upon the Rhine. The inhabitants of Spessart and Odenwald, 
enraged at the oppressions and exactions of the French, rose upon their 
retreating enemies, and destroyed them wherever they appeared singly. 
Moreau was more fortunate ; he was indeed driven back from Bavaria 
and Swabia, but he gained the Rliine without any great loss by a masterly 
September 19 ^'^treat through the valleys of the Black Forest. The Ger- 
— October 24, man governments, far from encouraging the people in this 

1796. rising against the enemies of the empire, imitated, for 
the most part, the example of Prussia, and concluded a peace with 
France. 

§ 560. Robespierre's Fall. — Since the fall of Danton, the com- 
mittee of safety had ruled with wellnigh unlimited sway, and by re- 
peated executions and arrests had brought the reign of terror to its high- 



424 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

est point. But its chiefs bad lost the confidence of the people and of the 
Convention. The friends of Danton were on the watch for the favorable 
moment of attack, and the number of their enemies was increased, when 
RobespieiTC,' to put an end to the blasphemous proceedings of the ad- 
herents of the worship of Reason, had a resolution passed by the Con- 
vention in May, " That the existence of a Supreme Being and the im- 
mortality of the soul were truths :." and rendered himself at once hateful 
and ridiculous by his pride at the new festival in honor of the Supreme 
Being in the Tuileries, at which he officiated as high priest. Among his 
opponents was Tallien, who at a former period had been guilty of ex- 
cesses in Bourdeaux, but who had been brought to adopt different principles 
by the fascinating Fontenay Cabarrus. With him were joined Freron, 
^ ^ Fouche, Vadier, the polished rhetorician Barrere, and others. 
On the 9th Thermidor, a battle for life or death commenced 
in the Convention. Robespierre and his adherents were not allowed to 
speak ; their voices were drowned in the cries of their enemies, who car- 
ried through a stormy meeting the resolution, " That the three chiefs, of 
the committee of safety, Robespierre, St. Just, Couthon, and their confede- 
rate, Heni'iot, should be denounced, and conveyed as prisoners to the 
Luxembourg palace." They were liberated by the mob on their way ; 
whereupon the drunken Henriot threatened the Convention with the 
National Guard, whilst the others betook themselves to the Hotel de 
Ville. But the National Assembly was beforehand with them by a hasty 
resolution. A loudly proclaimed sentence of outlawr)"- suddenly dispersed 
Henriot's army, whilst .the citizens who were opposed to the Jacobins 
arranged themselves around the Convention. The accused were again 
secured in the Hotel de Ville. Henriot crept into a sewer, whence he 
was dragged forth by hooks. Robespierre attempted to destroy himself 
by a pistol-shot, but only succeeded in shattering his lower jaw, and was 
first conveyed, horribly disfigured, amidst the curses and execrations of 
the people, before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and then guillotined, with 
twenty-one of his adherents. On the two following days, 

■ " seventy-two Jacobins shared the fate of their leaders. 

§ 561. The Last Days of the Convention. — Robespierre's over- 
throw by the " Thermidorians " was the commencement of a return to 
moderation and order. The assemblies of the people were gradually 
limited, the power of the Common Council diminished, and the lower 
classes deprived of their weapons. Freron, converted from a republican 
bloodhound into an aristocrat, assembled the young men, who from their 
clothing were called the " gilded youth," around him. These, with the 
heavy stick they usually carried about them, attacked the Jacobins in the 
sti'eets and in their clubs at every opportunity, and opposed the song of 
the "Awakening of the People" to the Marseillaise. At length, the 
club was shut up and the cloister of the Jacobins pulled down. The 



FRANCE UNDER THE DIRECTORY. 425 

Convention strengthened itself by the recall of the expelled members and 
of such Girondists as were still left, and ordered the worst of the Terror- 
ists, Lebon, Carrier, Fouquier Tinville, &c., to be executed. But when 
four of the most active members of the committee of safety (Barrere, 
Vadier, Collot d'Herbois, and Billaud-Varennes) were denounced, the 
Jacobins collected the last remains of their strength, and drove the 
people, who were suiFering from a scarcity and want of money, to a 
frightful insurrection. Crowds of grisly wretches surrounded the house 
March 31. of assembly, and demanded, with threatening cries, the 
AprU 1, 1795. liberation of the patriots, bread, and the constitution of 
1793. Pichegru, who was just at this moment in Paris, came to the as- 
sistance of the distressed Convention with soldiers and citizens, and dis- 
persed the crowd. The still more formidable insurrection of the 1st 

Prairial, in which the mob held the Convention surrounded 
May 20, 1795. , , . ' . , . , n , i i • xi 

both withm and without, from seven o clock m the mornmg 

till two at night, for the purpose of enforcing a return to the reign of 
terror, was also suppressed by the courageous president, Boissy d'Anglas. 
From this time, the power of the Terrorists was no more. Many Jaco- 
bins died by their own hands ; others were beheaded, imprisoned, or 
transported. By so much the stronger became the party of the royalists, 
who wished to have a king again ; and when the new government was 
shortly after determined upon, by which the executive power was to be 
delivered to a Directory of five persons, the legislative power to a 
council of Ancients and a council of Five Hundred, the republican 
members of the Convention feared that in the new election they might be 
thrust aside by the royalists. They therefore made additions to the 
original charter of the constitution, wherein it was declared that two- 
thirds of the two legislative councils must be chosen from members of 
the Convention. The royalists raised objections against this and some 
other limitations of the freedom of election ; and when these were un- 
attended with success, they occasioned the insurrection of the Sections. 
Hereupon, the Convention made over to the Corsican, Napoleon Bona- 
parte, the supression of the insurgent royalists, who were joined by all 
the enemies of the republic and of the revolution. The victory of the 
Octobers 13th Venderaiaire, which was fought in the streets of Paris, 
1795. gave the supremacy to the republicans of the Convention, 

and the command of the Italian army to Napoleon, who was then twenty- 
six years of age, and who, a short time before, had married Josephine, 
the widow of General Beauharnois. 

5. france under the directort (october, 1795 novembee 

9th, 1799). 
§ 562. Napoleon in Italy. — The French army in Savoy and on 
the frontiers of Italy was in a melancholy condition. The soldiers were 

3G* 



426 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

in want of every thing. At tliis crisis, Napoleon appeared as their com- 
mander-in-chief, and in a short time contrived so to inspirit the despond- 
ing troops and attach tliem to his person, that under his guidance they 
cheerfully encountered the greatest dangers. Where the love of glory and 
the sentiment of honor were not sufficient, there the treasures of wealthy 
Italy served as a stimulus to valor. In April, Napoleon 
defeated the octogenarian Austrian general, Beaulieu, at 
Milesimo and Montenotte, separated, by this victory, the Austrians from' 
the Sardinians, and so terrified the king, Victor Amadeus, that he con- 
sented to a disadvantageous peace, by which he surrendered Savoy and 
Nice to the French, gave up six fortresses to the general, and submitted 
to the oppressive condition of allowing the French army to march 
through his land at any time. By these and other oppressive conditions, 
the country became entirely dependent upon France, so that, upon the 
king's death, which took place soon after, his son, Charles Emmanuel 
(1796 — 1802), surrendered Piedmont to the enemy, and settled himself 
and his family in Sardinia. The course of Napoleon's victories in Up- 
per Italy was equally rapid. After the memorable passage 
^^ ' ' ' of the bridge of Lodi, he marched into Austrian Milan, 
subjected the Lombai'd towns, and so terrified the smaller princes by the 
success of his arms and his insolence, that they were only too happy to 
make peace with the victor at any price. Napoleon extorted large sums 
of money, and valuable pictures, treasures of art and manuscripts, from 
the dukes of Parma, Modena, Lucca, Tuscany, &c. He behaved as the 
Roman genei'als, with whose lives he was acquainted from the descrip- 
tions of Plutarch, had once done ; he enriched the French capital with 
the productions of the mind, that he might please the vain and spectacle- 
loving Parisians. He supported the weak Directory with the extorted 
supplies of money. 

Wurmser now took the place of the old Beaulieu. But he also was 

defeated at Castiglione, and afterwards besieged in Mantua. 

° ' The army under Alvinzi that was sent to his relief sustained 

January, three defeats (at Areola, Rivoli, La Favorita), by which the 

February whole Austrian force in Italy was destroyed, dispersed, or 

17^7. captured. This compelled the gallant Wurmser to deliver 

up Mantua to the glorious victor. Bonaparte, respecting the courage 

of his enemy, permitted a free retreat to the gray-headed marshal, his 

staff', and a part of the brave garrison. Pope Pius VI., terrified at these 

rapid successes, hastened to purchase the peace of Tolentino 

by cessions of territory, sums of money, and works of art. 

Archduke Charles now assumed the command of the Austrian army 

in Italy. But he also was compelled to a disastrous retreat, and was 

pursued by Bonaparte as far as Klagenfurt, with the view of falling 

upon Vienna. The emperor Francis, anxious for the fate of his capital, 



FRANCE UNDER THE DIRECTORY. 427 

allowed himself to be persuaded by female influence to conclude the dis- 
advantageous preliminary peace of Leoben, at the very mo- 
April 18, 1797. ^ ° / . • 1 r .1 .1 • c 

ment when, by the non-arrival ol the expected reimorce- 

ments, and the threatening movements of the Tyrolese, Styrians, and 
Carinthians, the position of the French army was becoming critical. 
About the time this treaty of peace was concluded, a popular insurrec- 
tion arose in the I'ear of the French army, in the territory of the republic 
of Venice, in consequence of which many Frenchmen were murdered 
in Verona and its neighborhood, and even the sick and wounded in the 
hospitals were not spared. This was taken advantage of by Napoleon 
to destroy the Venetian republic. The cowardice of the aristocratic 
councillors, who, instead of offering a brave resistance and falling with 
honor, humbly imploi'ed the grace of the proud conqueror, and surren- 
dered the government to a democratic council, facilitated the enterprise. 
As early as May, the French marched into Venice, carried off the ships 
and the stores of the arsenal, robbed the churches, galleries, and libraries 
of their choicest ornaments and most valued treasures, and kept posses- 
sion of the city till the negotiations with Austria were so far advanced, 
October 17, that the peace of Campo Formio, by which Upper Italy fell 
1797. into the hands of France under the name of the Cisalpine 

Republic, was concluded. Austria, who by this peace also surrendered 
Belgium to the French republic, and consented to the cession of the left 
bank of the Rhine with Mayence, received the territory of Venice, 
together with Dalmatia, as a recompense for this loss. The princes, 
prelates, and nobles, who suffered by this abandonment of the forther 
Rhineland, were to be indemnified on the right bank of the river, and 
this, as well as all other points relating to Germany, were to be settled 
December ^t the Congress at Rastadt. Napoleon opened this congress 
1797. himself, and then returned to Paris where he was received 

with acclamations. 

§ 563. Gracchus Babcetjf. Tde Royalists. — The reign of the 
five directors, among whom La Reveillere-Lepeaux (founder of the 
Society of the Theo-Philanthropists, Friends of God and Men) and 
Carnot possessed the greatest influence, was detested by the violent re- 
publicans as well as by the royalists, and had, consequently, to sustain 
the attacks of both parties. The first attempt to overthrow it was made 
by the republicans, under the guidance of Gracchus Babccuf, who, like 
the Roman tribune whose name he had assumed, wished to establish an 
equalization of property, and a new division of lands. He was joined 
by some of the old Jacobins, particularly by Drouet. The conspiracy 
was discovered. After some legal proceedings, which attracted a great 
deal of attention, Baboeuf and one other were executed, the others were 
banished. But greater than this was the danger with which the direc- 
toral government was threatened by the royalists. When, in accordance 



428 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

with tlie charter of the Constitution, at the expiration of the first year, 
a third part of the council vacated their seats, and were replaced by a 
fresh election, the royalists, who had tbunded the club of Clichy, succeed- 
ed, almost entirely, in returning people of their own way of thinking to 
the legislative assembly. Among them was Pichegru, who as commander 
of the Rhine army, had been connected with the emigrants, and now, 
as pi-esident of the Council of the Five Hundred, was seeking to efiect 
the restoration of the king. This caused anxiety to the republicans in 
the Directory and in the legislative chamber. They accordingly sought 
assistance from Bonaparte. The latter despatched a division of his 
army to Paris, under the conduct of the shrewd Bernadotte and the 
gallant Augereau, ostensibly to convey thither the conquered standards, 
September 4, hut in reality to assist the Directors against the royalists. 
1797. On the 18th Fructidor, Augereau surrounded the Tuileries 

with his troops, and ordered the royalist deputies to be arrested ; upon 
which, eleven members of the Council of Ancients, forty-two of the Five 
Hundred (among them Pichegru), and two Directors, were sentenced to 
deportation. The royalist elections were then declared invalid, the re- 
turned emigrants again banished, and many joui'nals suppressed. The 
directoral government, however, possessed neither respect nor confi- 
dence. Trade, industry, and agriculture fell into decay, and the national 
finances were in a dilapidated state. At the commencement of the 
Revolution, the government had ordered paper money to be issued, 
for the security and guarantee of which they assigned the confiscated 
property of the Church and of the emigrants. These notes were called 
assignats. A want of confidence in the stability of the revolutionary 
government soon produced a depreciation of this paper money, especially 
as the increasing number of assignats rendered their redemption every 
day more improbable. During the reign of terror, no one refused an 
acceptance that was commanded by law, and the assignats had thus a 
compulsatory circulation. But after th6 fall of Robespierre, and the 
decline of terrorism, this paper money sank daily in value ; and, despite 
the efibrts made by the directoral government to restore the confidence 
of the people by discharging the old assignats and issuing fresh bills 
(mandats, inscriptions), the new notes were soon as worthless as the old 
ones. The losses were enormous ; property had fied from the rich and 
the illustrious to the lower classes. To defray the expenses of war and 
other outlays, the Directory established a complete system of plunder in 
the conquered countries. 

§ 5C4. The Republicans in Italt. Changes in Switzerland. 
Italy and Switzei-land were particuhu-ly exposed to the insolence and 
rapacity of the directoral government. In the winter of 1797, repub- 
lican commotions took place in Rome and other parts of the States of 
the Church, which were occasioned by French influence. During the 



FRANCE UNDER THE DIRECTORY. 429 

suppression of these by the papal troops, general Duphot, who was present 
in Rome, lost his life. This afforded the French government an oppor- 
tunity of ordering Berthier to march with an army into Rome. A tree 
Februarv of liberty was erected in the midst of the Roman Forum, 
1798. the Pope was deprived of his temporal powei', which was 

made over to a republican government, consisting of consuls, senators, 
and tribunes. Tlie French then imposed severe military levies and im- 
posts upon the town, and carried off the most valuable works of art to 
Paris ; and when this proceeding occasioned some popular commotions, 
the grey-headed pope, Pius YI., was led away to Paris, 
"^ ' ' where he died in the following year, and the cardinals were 
subjected to severe persecutions. Lucca and Genoa also received demo- 
cratical constitutions, and paid for them with their treasures. But the 
most remarkable occurrences took place in Naples. The hard-hearted 
and cowardly king Ferdinand governed there, and devoted himself en- 
tirely to hunting and fishing, whilst he left the business of the state to his 
impetuous wife, Caroline, a daughter of Maria Theresa, who, on her 
side, allowed herself to be entirely guided by the notorious courtezan, 
Lady Hamilton, the wife of the English ambassador. Filled with deadly 
hate against France and the regicide republicans, and informed that the 
European powers had determined upon a fresh campaign, the queen 
persuaded her husband to allow a Neapolitan army, under the command 
of the Austrian general Mack, to march into the States of the Church. 
The French were at first driven out of Rome, and the town taken pos- 
session of ; but in a few days they again returned, under Championnet, 
put the Neapolitans to flight, and marched into the territory of their 
enemy. Confused and helpless, the Neapolitan court fled to Sicily, or- 
■KT , 1^ . dered its own fleet to be set on fire, and abandoned the capi- 
December, tal and the whole country to the conquerors. But the popu- 
1798. lace of Naples, excited by the monks and clergy, now arose. 

Troops of ragamuffins (lazzaroni), united with peasants and galley-slaves, 
took possession of Naples, and spread such alarm, that the viceroy fled 
to Sicily, and Mack sought protection among the French. Championnet 
then marched over blood and corpses into the stubbornly defended town, 

and established the Parthenopeian Republic. All the re- 
Janiijiry 1799. 

' spectable and educated Neapolitans, Avho were inspired with 

any feeling of patriotism,- delighted to escape from years of kingly and 
priestly despotism, attached themselves with enthusiasm to the new order 
of things. 

In the year 1798, Switzerland also experienced a change in her con- 
stitution. Bern, and its associate, Vaud, were governed by an aristo- 
cratic council, all the members of which belonged to patrician families. 
The Vaudois, excited by the French republicans, seized their arms for 
the purpose of freeing themselves from the government of the Ber- 



430 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

nese. But as they were not a match for their opponents, they clahned 
the assistance of France ; upon which general Brune took possession 
of Bern, made himself master of the rich treasures and of the arsenal, 
and extorted large sums from the land by military levies. Supported 
by the democratic party, with Ochs of Basle and Laharpe of Vaud at 
their head, the French converted Switzerland into the single and 
indivisible Helvetic Republic, with a form of policy borrowed from 
the directoral government of France. It was in vain that the Catholic 
cantons on the lake of Lucerne, excited by their priests, opposed 
themselves to this arrangement and took up arms ; they were defeated, 
and compelled to conform to the new system. Geneva was united to 
France. 

§ 5G5. The War of the Second Coalition. — These proceedings, 
and the simultaneous expedition of Napoleon to Egypt and Syria, pro- 
duced a fresh coalition of the three great European powers, Russia, Eng- 
land, and Austria, against France. Russia had been governed since the 
year 179G by Paul, the eldest son of Catherine, a prince with a mind 
somewhat deranged, who cherished the bitterest hatred against tlie Re- 
volution; and who, as a great admirer of the Order of Malta, to the 
Grand Mastership of which he had had himself appointed, saw, in the 
capture of that island by Napoleon, a cause for war. England feared 
danger to her foreign possessions from the Egyptian expedition, and 
scattered money with a liberal hand to raise up fresh enemies against 
France. Austria was at variance with the directoral government, be- 
cause the house of the French ambassador in Vienna, Bernadotte, had 
been broken open, and the tricolor flag torn down and burnt, during a 
popular festival, without the Austrian government having aiforded the re- 
quired satisfaction. 

War was waged, at the same time, in Germany, in Italy, in Switzer- 
land, and in the Netherlands. After the French had been defeated at 

Stockach by the archiluke Charles, and forced over the Rhine, 
March 25 1799. . 

' "the French ambassadors (Roberjot, Bonnier, Jean Debry), 

who had hitherto conducted tlie affairs of peace in Rastadt, and rendered 
themselves universally odious by their pride and insolence, wished to re- 
turn. But scarcely had they left Rastadt at the commencement of night, 
before they were attacked, in defiance of all the rights of na- 
^^ " ' tions, by Szekler hussars, robbed of their papers, and treated 
in such a way that two died immediately, and Jean Debry, who was 
severely wounded, only saved his life by crawling into a ditch. This 
deed excited universal disgust, and was taken advantage of by the Direc- 
tory to excite the people to vengeance. In Italy, also, the French had 
the disadvantage. The Russians, under Suwarrow, conquered the Cisal- 
pine Republic in a few weeks, after Moreau had been defeated at Cassano, 
and Macdonald, who had led the French army out of Naples, at Trebia, 



FEANCE tn^DEB, THE DIRECTORY. 431 

famous for the victory of Hannibal. The bloody defeat of the French 

in the battle of Novi, where the youno; general Joubert died 
June 17 — 19. j o o 

the death of a hero, completed the loss of Italy. This change 
.-Lugus o. jj-j ggVjjj.g ^yj^g ^ dcath-blow to the Parthenopeian Eepiiblic. 
Scarcely had the French army left Naples, before the barbarous cardinal 
Ruffo stornted the city with bands of Calabrian peasants and 
exasperated lazzaroni, and the court returned from Sicily. 
The republicans of Naples were now visited by a frightful punishment. 
Supported by Admiral Nelson, who lay with his fleet before the city, and 
who, seduced by the charms of Lady Hamilton, allowed himself to be 
made the instrument of an ignominious vengeance, the priesthood and the 
royal government practised deeds, before which the atrocities of the 
French reign of terror retreat into obscurity. After the murderings and 
plunderings of the lazzaroni were over, the business of the judge, the 
executioner, and the gaoler commenced. Every partisan, adherent, or 
favorer of the republican institutions was persecuted. Upwards of 
4,000 of the most respectable and refined men and females died upon the 
scatibld or in frightful dungeons. For it was precisely the noblest por- 
tion of the nation, who wished to redeem the people from their degrada- 
tion and ignorance, that had joined themselves with patriotic enthu- 
siasm to the new system. The grey-haired prince, Caraccioli, the 
former confidant of Ferdinand and the friend of Nelson, was handed 
at the yard-arm, and his body plunged, loaded with weights, into 
the waves. The republican government was also dissolved in 
Rome, whereupon the new pope, Pius VII., again took possession of 
the Vatican. 

After the conquest of Italy, Suwarrow surmounted the pathless ice- 
bergs of the Alps, with the purpose of driving the French out of Switz- 
erland. The Russian army had incredible difficulties and dangers to 
encounter in this expedition. Combats were sustained on the Gothard 
and at the Devil's Bridge against the enemy and natural difficulties, that 
may be classed with the most daring feats in the world's history. But 
despite all their efforts, the Russians, owing to not being sufficiently sup- 
ported by the Austrians, were defeated by the French in the battle of 
September 25, Zurich. (During the capture of Zurich, which followed, 
2G, 1799. Lavater was mortally wounded.) Suwarrow conducted the 

remains of his army across the frozen heights of the Grisons to their 
Ml - isoo ^0™®' where he shortly after died. The simultaneous at- 
tempt of the English to drive the French out of the Nether- 
lands, and restore the Stadtholder, had a disastrous termination. The 
unskilful general, the duke of York, purchased the retreat of himself 
October 1799 ^"^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ disgraceful convention, Avithout troubling 
himself about his allies, the Russians. This ignoble and 
selfish behavior of the English and Austrians exasperated the Russian 



432 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

emperor, Paul, so much against the allies, that he retired from the 
coalition. 

§ 5GG. Bonaparte in Egypt and Syria. — During these trans- 
actions, Bonaparte found himself in Egypt, at the head of a consider- 
able army. In the June of 1798, he had sailed from the island of 
Malta, which had been wrested from the knights of St. John by treach- 
ciy, towards the land of the Nile. The chief inducements to this strange 
and adventurous undertaking were the wish to inspire the excitable 
French nation with enthusiasm for himself by extraordinary actions, the 
desire of glory, and the thought of being able to weaken the maritime 
power of England, and to threaten her possessions in the East Indies 
from Egypt. After his disembarkation at Alexandria, the whole of the 
French fleet at Aboukir, owing to the carelessness of the admiral, was 
defeated and captured by the English naval hero. Nelson ; and Napoleon 
was in consequence obliged to make arrangements for a longer stay. In 
July, he marched from Alexandria through the Egyptian desert to Cairo. 
The distress of the army, unprovided with water or sufficient necessaries, 
in the burning heat, was very great. In the battle of the 

Julv *^1 1798 o 7 ./ o 

Pyramids, " from the tops of which 4,000 years looked down 
upon the combatants," the Mamalukes, who at that time swayed Egypt 
under the Turkish government, were defeated ; whereupon Bonaparte 
marched into Cairo, and established a new government, police, and taxa- 
tion, upon the European pattern, and ordered the curiosities of this won- 
derful land to be examined, and its monuments and antiquities to be col- 
lected and described, by the artists and men of learning Avho accompanied 
his army. In the meanwhile, although Bonaparte and his troops treated 
the religious customs of the Mahommedans with every possible forbear- 
ance, and showed all outward respect to their priests, mosques, ceremo- 
nies, and customs, ffuiaticism was, nevertheless, raging in the bosoms of 
the Mussulmans, and rendered the rule of the Christians detestable to 
them. This hatred was increased when the French general levied taxes 
and imposts ; and the Poi'te, which would not allow itself to be deceived 
by Napoleon's false shows of friendship and devotion, called upon the 
Mahommedans to fight against the Christians. A dreadful insurrec- 
October 21 t'on broke out in Cairo, Avhich could only be suppi-essed 
i^'^S- with difficulty by the superiority of European tactics, after 

nearly 6,000 Mahommedans had been slain. Napoleon made use of the 
Febraurv victory to extort money, and then marched with his Turkish 
1799. troops against Syria. After the conquest of Jaffa, where he 

ordered 2,000 Arnauts, whom he had a second time taken prisoners, to 
be shot as perjured, he proceeded to the siege of Jean d'Acre. It was 

tliere that the fortune of Napoleon met with its first rebuff. 
March 20. 

The Turks, provided with artillery by the English admiral. 

Sir Sidney Smith, repelled the assaults of the enemy, despite their 



FRANCE UNDER THE DIRECTORY. 433 

wonderful valor. At the same time, a Turkish army threatened the 
European soldiers in the interior of the country. The former was, in- 
deed, defeated and dispersed by Junot at Nazareth, and at Mount Tabor 
by Kleber ; nevertheless, upon the plague breaking out among his troops, 
Napoleon found himself compelled to give up Acre and to commence a 
retreat. • The horses were laden with the sick ; the soldiers suffered the 
most dreadful privations ; the dangers and distresses of the war were 
frightful. Napoleon shared all the fatigues with the meanest of his 
army ; he is even said to" have visited a hospital filled with those sick of 
the plague. He again reached Cairo in June, and in the following 

month, defeated a Turkish army of three times his number, 
July 25. 

at Aboukir. A short time after this, he learned the disasters 

of the French in Italy from some newspapers ; and the intelligence pro- 
duced such an effect upon him, that he determined upon returning to 
France. He quietly made his preparations for departure with the 
greatest expedition. After transferring the command of the Egyptian 
army to Kleber, Napoleon sailed from the harbor of Alexandria with 
two frigates and a few small transports, and about 500 followers, and, 
October 9 guided by the star of his fortunes, reached the coast of France 
1799. undiscovered by the English, and landed at Frejus amidst 

the acclamations of the people. 

§567. The Eighteenth Bruiiaire. — Upon his arrival in Paris, 
Napoleon embraced the resolution of overthrowing the directoral gov- 
ernment, which had lost all authority and consideration. With this pur- 
pose, he made himself secure of the officers and troops that were in 
Paris, and consulted with Sieyes, one of the directors, and his own 
brother, Lucien Bonaparte, who had been elected president of the Five 
Hundred, on the means of carrying his plan into execution. Lucien 
transferred the sittings of the council to St. Cloud, for the purpose of 
bringing the members within the power of the soldiers. There, Napo- 
leon first attempted to win over the members to his plans by persuasion ; 
when he found that he could not succeed in this, but rather, that he was 
overwhelmed with threats and reproaches, he commanded his grenadiers 
to clear the room with levelled bayonets. The republicans, who pre- 
sented a bold front to the danger, were at length compelled to yield to 
superior force, and sought their safety through the doors and windows. 
November 9 This done, a commission of fifty persons was appointed to 
1799. draw up a fresh constitution. Thus ended the violent pro- 

cedure of the 18th Brumaire, in consequence of which Napoleon Bona- 
parte took the conduct of affairs into his own strong hands. 



37 



434 THE LATEST PERIOD. 



C. GOVERNMENT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

I. THE CONSULATE (1800-1804). 

§ 568. According to the consular constitution, the power of the state 
was divided in the following manner : — 1. To the Senate, which consisted 
of eighty members, belonged the privilege of selecting from the list of 
names sent in by the departments the members of the legislative power, 
and the chief officials and judges. 2. The legislative power was divided 
(a) into the Tribunate, which numbered one hundred members, and whose 
office it was to examine and debate upon the proposals of the govern- 
ment ; and (h) the legislative bodies, who had only to receive or reject 
these proposals unconditionally. 3. The government consisted of three 
Consuls, who were elected for ten years. Of these Consuls, the first, 
Bonaparte, exercised the powers of government, properly so called; 
whilst the second and third Consuls (Cambaceres and Lebrun) were 
merely placed at his side as advisers. Bonaparte, as first Consul, sur- 
rounded himself with a state council and a ministry, for which he se- 
lected the most talented and experienced men. Talleyrand, the dexter- 
ous diplomatist, was minister of the exterior ; the astute Fouche super- 
intended the police; Berthier held the staff of general. The Code 
Napoleon, in the composition of which the most renowned lawyers of 
France were employed, is an illustrious proof of the sagacity of the 
state council. 

§ 5G9. Makengo and Hohenlinden. — After the arrangement of 
the new constitution, Bonaparte wi'ote a letter vfith his own hand to 
the king of England, in which he made an offer of peace ; he diH the 
same to the emperor. But this unusual proceeding found little sympa- 
thy. A cold answer, in measured terms, spoke of the restoration of the 
Bourbons, and of a return to the ancient boundaries. The contrast be- 
tween the apparent warmth, openness, and magnanimity of Napoleon, 
and the repulsive coldness of the cabinets of London and Vienna, ex- 
cited the greatest enthusiasm and military ardor among the fiery 
French. Napoleon was more successful in his attempts to gain over the 
czar of Russia to his cause. Paul's love for soldiers, and his disgust at 
the Austrians and English, who would not exchange the captured Rus- 
sians, were dexterously made use of by Napoleon. He sent some 
thousands of these prisoners, fresh armed and clothed, back to their 
homes, without ransom. By this means he won the heart of the em- 
peror, who, with all his eccentricities, possessed a chivalrous spirit ; so 
that the latter entered into a friendly alliance with Bonaparte, and 
withdrew himself entirely from his former allies. 

The First Consul now assembled a large army, with all secrecy, in 



GOVERNMENT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 435 

the neighborhood of the Lake of Geneva, and undertook the wonderful 
passage of the great St. Bernard with the main body, whilst 
other divisions penetrated into Italy by the Simplon, St. 
Gothard, and other passes. This bold undertaking, with its ditficulties 
and dangers, recalls to mind the heroic age of Hannibal. The army 
marched past the Hospice, placed in the midst of snow and icebergs, 
down into the valley of the Dora Baltea, where the fortress of Bard, 
which was occupied by the Austrians, appeared to present insurmounta- 
ble difficulties. But Napoleon's genius discovered an escape. The 
troops surmounted the neighboring heights by a sheep-path, whilst the 
artillery was conveyed secretly under the guns of the fort by an artifice. 
In this way the French descended, quite unexpectedly, upon Upper 
Italy, at the very moment when the Austrians had compelled Genoa to 
surrender, and were in possession of the whole country. But the posi- 
June 9. tion of affairs Avas soon changed. Five days after the fall 

June u. of Genoa, the Austrians received a defeat at Montebello, and 

a short- time after, the battle of IMarengo was fought near Alexandria, 
where the Austrians under Melas were completely routed. The unex- 
pected arrival of the brave Desaix from Egypt produced this change, 
and snatched the victory that was deemed secure from the hands of the 
Austrians. Desaix, one of the greatest and most noble men of the time 
of the Revolution, died the death of a hero at Marengo. Milan and 
Lombardy were the prize of the day. At the same time, an army 
under Moi'eau had forced its way into Swabia and Bavaria, driven back 
the Austrians in several encounters, and compelled them to a truce ; but 
it was the glorious march of Macdonald and Moncey over 
J^ly- the icy Grisons, and Moreau's splendid victory in the bloody 

December 3. field of Hohenlinden, that first compelled the Austrians to 

accept, in the peace of Luneville, the conditions that had 
February 9. ^ . 

been entered mto at Campo Formio, and to acknowledge the 

valleys of the Rhine and the Adige as the boundaries of the French 
empire. The formation of an Italian republic under the presidentship 
of Bonaparte, and the indemnification of the losses of the German 
princes and the imperial estates, by the secularized Church property 
and the abolished imperial cities on the right side of the Rhine, were 
the most important articles in. the peace of Luneville. The arrange- 
ment that was made, two years latei', in the territories of the German 
States, by the so-called decree of the Imperial Diet, was the first step 
February 25, towards the dissolution of the German empire, and the es- 
1803. tablishment of sovereign kingdoms and principalities. 

§ 570. The Peace op Amiejjs. — After the peace of Luneville, 
England alone retained her arms, and as the Russian emperor, Paul, out 
of hatred to the selfish and insolent islanders, had only a short time be- 
fore renewed the alliance with Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark, for an 



436 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

armed neutrality, and by this means stirred up enemies against the 
Britisli in the BaUic, the Enghsh people also were longing for rest and 
refreslunent. Negotiations for peace were accordingly entered into, but 
were attended for a long time by no result, inasmuch as the parties could 
not agree respecting Egypt. For Kleber, angry as he was at Napoleon's 
retreat, had successfully maintained himself against the Turks and the 
En"-lish, and in the battle near Heliopolis, had defeated an 
' army of six times his numbers. But after he had fallen by 
the dagger of a fanatical Mussulman, in the garden of his palace at Cairo, 
on the day of the battle of Marengo, the French army, under the con- 
duct of his incompetent successor, Menou, who had embraced Islamism, 
fell gradually into such distress, that the English entertained the hope of 
compelling it to surrender, and consequently delayed the negotiations for 

peace. It was not until the gallant English general, Aber- 
Marcli21 1801. o o ^ 

' crombie, had fallen in the battle of Canopus, that they were 

convinced that neither their own land force, which Avas composed of re- 
cruits from all nations, nor the undisciplined Turkish squadrons, were in 
September ^ condition to overcome the tactics of the French in Egypt. 
1801. A treaty was concluded, by virtue of which the French 

army, 24,000 strong, with arms, munitions, and all the treasures of 
science and art, were conveyed back to France in English vessels. This 
was the preliminary to the peace of Amiens, by which the English 
promised to surrender the greater part of their foreign con- 
" ' 'quests, and to relinquish the island of Malta, of which they 
had gained possession, to the knights of St. John. This peace, which 
was concluded with great precipitation on the part of England, met with 
violent opposition in the country. The press raised its voice loudly 
against it, and adopted at the same time a hostile tone towards Napoleon. 
These attacks irritated the First Consul, who could bear neither censure 
nor opposition ; he replied in a similar strain by the French government 
paper (Moniteur). This occasioned a mutual ill-temper, which promised 
a speedy renewal of hostilities ; and the English accordingly delayed the 
evacuation of Malta, and the execution of the disadvantageous conditions 
of the peace. The dread of Russia had passed, since Paul had met with 
a violent death. The cruelty, the arbitrary measures, and the gloomy 
suspicions of this emperor, had increased to such an extent, that there 
could be no longer a doubt that his mind was incurably affected. A con- 
spiracy was therefore formed amongst those around him, the threads of 
which were guided by the powerful count Pahlen. The result of this 
was, that the emperor Paul was attacked in his bed-chamber by Suboffj 
Benningsen, and others, and when he refused the required abdication of 

the throne, he was cruelly strangled, and his son Alexander 
May 24, 1801. , . ' ,. tt i .i_ • . *i 

proclaimed as his successor. Under these circumstances, the 

May 18, 1803. peace of Amiens had no permanence. At the exi^iration of 



GOVERNMENT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 437 

a year, the English again declared war, and Pitt reentered the ministry. 

A short time before, Napoleon had reduced Switzerland to the same 

state of subjection as Holland and Italy. By the so-called Act of 

„ Mediation, he had effected such a change in the constitution 

February, 1803. n ■, -r-r \ • •■,.•■, -, ■• i • , 

or the Helvetic repubhc, that the cantons had agani become 

independent, but a Landamman and a Diet represented the confederation 

as a collective state. 

§ 571. The new Court and the Concordat. — Bonaparte was 
at first engaged in reconciling the old with the new, in combining the 
results of the Revolution with the forms and manners of the monarchical 
period. But he very soon made known his preference for the ancient 
system, by the restoration of all the former arrangements and customs. 
The times and fashions of a previous period, the forms of the old 
etiquette, the elegance of the kingly period, were soon to be seen at the 
court of the First Consul in the Tuileries. An aristocratic demeanor, 
a dignified bearing, and polished manners, were again held in estimation, 
as the advantages of good society. The social gifts of his wife, Josephine, 
the beauty and amiability of his step-children (Eugene and Hortense 
Beauhai'nais) and sisters (Pauline, Elise), assisted him in this matter.* 
The reductions in the emigrant lists brought back many royalists to their 
homes, and the favor shown to them made them courteous and pliant in 
the service of the new court. Madame de Stael (daughter of Necker) 
collected, as in the old time, a circle of accomplished and illustrious men 
in her saloon. The vanity of the French favored Napoleon's efforts ; 
when he instituted the Order of the Legion of Honor, republicans and 
royalists grasped eagerly at the new plaything of human weakness. 

One of the first cares of the Consul was the restoration of Christian 

worship in the French churches. After he had abolished the republican 

festivals (10th August, 21st January), and introduced the 

' observance of the Sabbath, negotiations were opened with 

the Eoman court, which at length led to the conclusion of the Concordat. 

April 8. By this Concordat, the French clergy lost their early inde- 

* Genealogical Table of the Bonaparte family of Ajaccio, in Corsica. 

Charles Bonaparte, = LfBtitia n^e Ramolini, a. d. 1736, at Rome. 

1. Joiseph B., 2. Napoleon B., 3. Lucien B., 4. Eliza Bacciochi, 

Count Survilliers, A. d. 1769 - 1821. Pilnce Canino, A. d. 1777 - 1820. 

A. D. 17C7 - 1844. A. D. 1772 - 1841. 

5. Louis B., G. Pauline Borghese, 7. Caroline Minrat, 8. Jerome B., 

Duke of St. Leu, a. d. 1781-1825. a. D. 1781-1839. bom 1784, 

A. D. 1778 - 1846. Duke of Monfort. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, = Josephine Beauharnais, n^e Tascher de la Pagerie, 

A. D. 1763-1814. 
A. D. 1837. 
Eugene, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Hortense, Duchess of St. Leu, = Louis B. 

A. D. 1781-1824. Louis Napoleon, 

President of the French Republic. 
37* 



438 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

pendence, and were subjected to the head of the Church as well as to 
the ruler of the state. 

No less attention did Napoleon devote to the affairs of education ; but 
he particularly patronized the establishments for practical science, as the 
Polytechnic School in Paris. An arbitrary and power-loving man, 
Napoleon wished to guide and govern every thing himself, and thus be- 
came the creator of the pernicious system of centralization, by which the 
vital circulation was suppressed, and the seeds of death were planted in 
the whole body of the state. 

§ 572. Conspiracies. — Napoleon possessed a despotic nature, that 
found no pleasure in a life of freedom ; he accordingly curtailed the 
liberty and political rights of the citizens, persecuted the Jacobins and 
Republicans, whom he called " Ideologists," and reposed his confidence 
in his guard, and in a vigorous triple police, under the superintendence 
of the ci'afty Fouche. Repeated conspiracies against the life of the First 
Consul, sometimes undertaken by the republicans and sometimes by the 
royalists, were always followed by fresh restrictions and a more rigorous 
system of espionage. The most desperate undertaking of this kind was 
the attempt, by means of the so-called infernal machine, — a cask filled 
December 24 "with gunpowder, bullets, and inflammable materials, to blow 
1800. up Bonaparte on his way to the opera-house, — an attempt 

which he escaped by the rapidity with which his coachman was driv- 
ing, but which destroyed many houses and killed several people. In 
consequence of this atrocious deed, a great number of Jacobins were con- 
demned to deportation, though it afterwards turned out that the plot was 
undertaken by the royalists. Still more dangerous and extensive were 
the conspiracies against Napoleon, when the office of Consul was conferred 

upon him for life by the voice of the people, with the privi- 
August2,1802./ • T -R 41,- *i 13 u 

lege ot nammg his successor. i3y this means, the Bourbons 

were cut off from the last hopes of a return, and the emigrants accord- 
ingly left no means untried of destroying him. The desperate George 
Cadoudal, and Pichegru, who was residing in England, and who was as 
strong as a giant, allowed themselves to be employed as tools. They 
conveyed themselves secretly to France, but were discovered and arrest- 
ed, with about forty confederates. Before their fate was decided. Napoleon 
allowed himself to be hui'ried into the commission of a revolting crime. 
It had been represented to him that the duke d'Enghien, the chivalrous 
grandson of the prince of Conde, was the soul of all the royalist conspi- 
racies. Accordingly, this young nobleman, who was residing at Etten- 
heim, a small town of Baden, was seized at Napoleon's command, by a 
troop of armed men, conducted with the greatest haste through Stras- 
burg to Paris, condemned to death by a hurried court-martial, and, 

despite a magnanimous defence, shot in the trenches of 

March21, 1804.,.. ^ r^, • i i i • i, i i -o . i i 

Vincennes. ihis deed, which placed Bonaparte on a level 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 439 

with the men of the reign of terror in 1793, revolted all Europe, and 
put an end to the praises of his admirers. The poet Chateaubriand, the 
author of the " Genius of Christianity," resigned the official situation 
that had been conferred upon him by Bonaparte's sister, Eliza, and 
retired to Switzerland. The fate of the conspirators was shortly after 
decided upon. Pichegru had already died a violent death in prison, 
whether by his own hand or that of another is uncertain. George 
Cadoudal, with eleven confederates, ascended the guillotine. General 
Moreau, who was implicated, retired into voluntary banishment in 
America. 

II. NAPOLEON, EMPEROR (A. D. 1804-1814). 
1. THE EMPIRE. 

§ 573. The royalist conspiracies were made use of by Bonaparte to 

establish an hereditary monarchy. At the instigation of his adherents, 

the making over the hereditary dignity of emperor to Napoleon was 

proposed to the Tribunat, sanctioned by the Senate, and confirmed by the 

whole people by the subscription of their names. Whilst the minds of 

men were still painfully excited by the late bloody execu- 
May 18, 1804. . ^^^ •',., "^ r.,-r^, 

tions, J>apoleon was proclaimed emperor oi the b rench, and 

at the end of the year, solemnly anointed by the pope in the church of 
Notre Dame. The crown, however, he placed on his own head, as well 
as on that of his wife, Josephine, who knelt before him. This magnifi- 
cent coronation appeared to be the conclusion of the Revolution, since 
the whole ancient system, for the extinction of which thousands of human 
lives had been sacrificed, gradually returned. The new emperor sur- 
rounded his throne with a brilliant court, in which the former titles, 
orders, and gradations of rank were revived under different names. He 
himself certainly retained his old military simplicity, but the members 
of his family were made princes and princesses ; his generals became 
marshals ; the devoted servants and promoters of his plans were con- 
nected with the throne as the great officers of the crown, or as senators 
with large incomes. The establishment of a new feudal nobihty, with 
the old titles of princes, dukes, counts, barons, completed the splendid 
edifice of a magnificent imperial court, which soon outshone the courts 
of princes. The republican arrangement gradually disappeared. The 
old calendar was again restored ; the new nobility were at liberty to 
establish the right of primogenitui'e, the press was placed under a censor- 
ship, and civil freedom was more and more restricted. Any opposition 
was intolerable to the ruler ; for this reason, he first reduced the number 

of Tribunes to fifty, and then abolished the whole Tribunat. 

Obedience was henceforth the only thing ; and France was 
placed under a tyranny more severe than that of the ancient monarchy. 
But then ^hc tyrant was a gi-eat man, and therefore the people willingly 



440 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

submitted to him ; and hardly as the rigorous conscription, the severe 
restrictions upon trade, and the heavy taxation might press upon them, 
the burden was the more lightly borne, inasmuch as the great ends at- 
tained by the Revolution — equality before the law, the peasants' right 
of property in the soil and other possessions, remained untouched. In- 
dustry made great progress, civil arts and trades received a vast impulse ; 
and an unaccustomed prosperity made itself everywhere visible. Mag- 
nificent roads, like those over the Alps, canals, bridges, and improve- 
ments of all kinds, are, to the present day, eloquent memorials of the 
restless activity of this remarkable man. Splendid palaces, majestic 
bridges, and noble streets, arose in Paris, every thing great or magnifi- 
cent that art had produced was united in the Louvre ; the capital of 
France glittered with a splendor that had never before been witnessed. 
The university was arranged upon a most magnificent footing, and ap- 
pointed the supreme court of supervision and control over the whole sys- 
tem of schools and education. The glory that was conferred by the em- 
peror upon the nation rendered every yoke light to the latter ; she forgot 
that the voice of freedom was dying away amidst the clash of arms and 
the clang of trumpets, and that the high-flown tone of bulletins, and the 
ornate language of the senate and legislative body, wei-e destructive of 
truth and justice. 

2. AUSTERLITZ, PRESBURG. CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 

§ 574. The English took advantage of the renewal of the war with 
France to make an unexpected seizui-e of Dutch and French ships, and 
then sought to unite Russia and Austria in a new coalition. Napoleon, 

on the other hand, ordered his troops to advance upon the 
May, 1803. ^^^ , , . ,. tt , • , , 

\Veser, and to occupy the electorate or Hanover, which be- 
longed to the king of England. The Hanoverian people and array were 
resolved to hazard life and property in defence of their country ; but the 
selfish aristocracy and ofiicials preferred a disgraceful capitulation, which 
surrendered the whole country to the French, to fighting. The gallant 
army was forced to retreat across the Elbe, and there to disband. Arms, 
munitions of war, and splendid horses, fell into the hands of the French, 
who forthwith occupied the countiy with their troops, and exhausted it 
by military levies and exactions. Tlie threatening attitude assumed by 
Napoleon in Hanover against the whole north, as well as his arbitrary 
proceedings in Holland, Italy, and other countries, were sources of anxi- 
ety to other powers. In Italy, not only was the Italian republic changed 
March 17 i'lto the kingdom of Italy, and Eugene Beauharnais, the step- 
1805. son of the emperor, placed there as viceroy, but Napoleon 

also enlarged it by the addition of Parma, and gave Lucca to his sister 
Eliza, the wife of the Corsican, Eacciochi. In Spain and Germany, also, 
Napoleon acted in the same imperious and arbitrary manner. These, 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 441 

and other causes, united Russia, Austria, and Sweden with England 
against France, and renewed the war with greater vigor. In Prussia, 
also, there was a strong party, headed by the high-spirited queen Louisa 
and prince Louis Ferdinand, in favor of an alliance with the united 
powers against Bonaparte ; but the three ministers, Haugwitz, Lucche- 
sini, and Lombard, who were inclined to France, and utterly wanting in 
any feeling of patriotism, still possessed the confidence of the irresolute 
and peace-loving king. Thus Prussia remained neutral, to its own de- 
struction. 

§ 575. "Whilst the attention of all Europe was directed to the western 
coast of France, where Napoleon was fitting out ships of every kind with 
the greatest diligence, and assembling a vast camp at Boulogne, with the 
purpose, as was believed, of effecting a landing on the Enghsh coast, he 
was making preparations, in all silence, for the memoi'able campaign of 
1805. Never were Napoleon's talents for command or his military 
genius displayed in a more brilliant light than in the plan of this cam- 
paign. Assui-ed of the assistance of most of the princes of southern 
Germany, Bonaparte crossed the Rhine in the autumn with seven divi- 
sions, commanded by his most experienced marshals, Ney, Lannes, Mar- 
mont, Soult, Murat, &c., and marched into Swabia ; whilst Bernadotte, 
disregarding Prussia's neutrality, pressed forward through the Branden- 
burg Margravate of Anspach-Bayreuth upon the Isar. This violation of 
his neutral position irritated the king, Frederick William IIL, to such a 
degree, that he entered into closer relationship with the allies, and as- 
sumed a threatening aspect, without, howevei", actually declaring war. 
The Electors of Baden, Wirtemberg, and Bavaria, on the other hand, 
strengthened with their troops the army of the too-powerful enemy, from 
whose grace they had as much to hope as they had to fear from his 
frowns. The dukes of Hesse, Nassau, &c., did the same. After Ney's 

successful engagement at Elchinjren, the Austrian general, 
October 14. ,, , ° ° . ^,, -, \y. n , • 

Mack, was shut up in Ulm, and cut ofi from the maui army. 

Helpless, and despairing of deliverance, the incompetent commander com- 
menced negotiations with the French, which terminated in the disgrace- 
ful capitulation of Ulm. By this arrangement, 33,000 Austri- 
ans, including thirteen generals, became prisoners of war. Cov- 
ered with shame, the once-brave warriors marched before Napoleon, laid 
down their arms before the victor, placed forty banners at his feet, and 
delivered up sixty cannon with their horses. When too late, it was seen 
in Vienna that Mack was not equal to his lofty position, and he was de- 
prived of his honor, his dignities, and the advantages of his office, by a 
court-martial. Napoleon's joy at this unexampled good fortune was, 
however, diminished by the contemporaneous maritime victory of the 

English at Trafalgar, which annihilated the whole French 
October 21 o ? 

fleet, but which also cost the life of the great naval hero, 
Nelson. 



442 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

§ 576. The war-party had gained the upper hand in Prussia since the 
violation of the neutral territory by Bernadotte. The king renewed the 
bond of perpetual friendship with the sensitive emperor Alexander, in 
the church of the garrison at Potsdam, over the coffin of Frederick the 
Great, at night, and then sent Haugwitz with threatening demands to 
Napoleon. The French emperor, in the meantime, proceeded along the 
Danube towards the Austrian states, not without many bloody engage- 
ments, of which the battles of Dirnstein and Stein against the Russians 
under KutusoiF and Bagration were of especial importance. 
' If the French found brave and circumspect opponents in the 
Russians in these encounters, they had the easier game in Austria. 

Murat took possession of Vienna Avithoftt the slightest trou- 
Novembcr 13. , , , , . „ . , , , n -, • i 

ble ; and the pnnce ot Auersburg, who had orders either to 

defend the bridge over the Danube, which was fortified and filled with 
gunpowder, or to blow it into the air, allowed himself to be so completely 
deceived by the bold cunning of the French general, and by pretended 
negotiations of peace, that he surrendered it to the enemy iminjured and 
undel'ended. The irresolution of the emperor Francis, and the divisions 
between the Austrians and Russians, facilitated the victory of the French, 
who, laden with enormous booty, pursued the Austro-Russian army, in 
the midst of perpetual engagements, into Moravia. In Moravia, the 
December 2, battle of Austerlitz, in which three emperors were present, 
1805. was fought on the day of the year in which the emperor was 

crowned, and in which the winter sun shone upon the most splendid of Napo- 
leon's victories. The emperor Francis, wishing for the termination of the 
war, suffered himself to be persuaded to pay a humble visit to Napoleon 
in the French camp, and then consented to a truce which stipulated for 
the retreat of the Russians from the Austi-ian states. Upon 
this, negotiations were commenced Avhich terminated in the 
peace of Presburg. 

By this peace, Austria lost the territory of Venice, which was united 
to the kingdom of Italy ; Tyrol, which fell to Bavaria ; and a portion of 
Austria, of which the Briesgau and the lands of the Black Forest were 
allotted to Baden. Bavaria and Wirtemberg received the rank of king- 
doms ; Baden, that of an ai'chduchy; and all three were joined to the 
imperial house of Napoleon by the ties of relationship. The daughter of 
the new king, Max Joseph of Bavaria, was married to the emjjeror's 
adopted son-in-law, Eugene Beauharnois, in Wirtemberg ; Catherine, 
the noble daughter of a princely house, was obliged to consent to a mar- 
riage with Napoleon's frivolous brother, Jerome, who had shortly before 
been separated from his citizen wife ; and in Baden, Charles, the grand- 
son of the excellent archduke Frederick, was united to Stephanie Beau- 
harnois, a niece of the empress Josephine, who had been adopted by 
Napoleon. The lands on the Lower Rhine were united into the arch- 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 443 

duchy of Cleve-Berg, with the capital, Dusseldorf, and presented to the 
emperor's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat. Holland also was compelled 
to exchange her republican constitution for a monarchy, and to beg a 
creature of Napoleon's for a ruler ; upon which, the French emperor 
named his brother Louis king of Holland. The royal family of Naples 
experienced the wrath of the potentate beyond all others. During the 
war, an Anglo-Russian fleet had landed at Naples, and been received by 
Ferdinand and Caroline with joy. Hereupon, Napoleon, the day after 
the conclusion of the peace of Presburg at Schonbrunn, subscribed the 
decree which contained the notorious decision, " The dynasty of the Bour- 
bons has ceased to reign in Naples." Upon this, Joseph 
December 27. . . . 

Bonaparte was named king of Naples, and installed in his 

new dignity by a French army. The royal family, who vainly strove to 
avert the loss of the beautiful land, at first by entreaties, and afterwards 
by stirring up the lazzaroni and Calabrese, fled with their friends and 
treasures to Sicily, where they lived under the protection of the English 
till Napoleon's downfall. A number of imperial fiefs, with considerable 
revenues, were established in the conquered and surrendered provinces 
of Italy, and conferred upon French marshals and statesmen, together 
with the title of duke. 

After the battle of Austerlitz, the Prussian ambassador, Haugwitz, did 
not venture to convey the charge of his court to the victorious emperor ; 
without asking permission in Berlin, he allowed himself to be induced, 
partly by threats, and partly by the engaging afiability of Napoleon, to 
subscribe an unfavorable contract, by which Prussia exchanged the Fran- 
conian principality of Anspach, some lands on the Lower Rhine, and the 
principality of Neuremberg in Switzei'land, for Hanover. It was in 
vain that the king resisted the exchange, which threatened to involve 
him in hostilities with England ; separated from Austria by the hasty 
conclusion of the peace of Presburg, nothing was left to the king but to 
submit to the dictation of the victor. The news of the sudden change in 
affairs produced by the battle of Austerlitz produced such an 
effect upon the English minister, Pitt, that he shortly after 
died. 

§ 577. The constitution of the German empire was already dissolved 
by the elevation of the Elector of Bavaria and of the duke of Wirtemberg 
into independent monarchs. Napoleon, in consequence, entertained the 
project of entirely removing the south and west of Germany from the 
influence of Austria, and of uniting them to himself by the formation of 
the Confederation of the Rhine. A prospect of enlarging their territo- 
ries and inci'easing their power, and fear of the mighty ruler from whose 
side victory appeared inseparable, induced a gz'cat number of princes 
and estates of the empire to separate themselves from the German em- 
pire and to join France. Self-interest was more powerful than patriot- 



444 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

ism. On the 12tli of July, tlie treaty was signed in Paris, by virtue of 
wbicli Napoleon, as protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, recog- 
nized the full sovereignty of the individual members, upon condition of 
their maintaining a certain contingent of troops ready at the emperor's 
disposal. Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and 
several others, formed the kernel around which the lesser principalities, as 
Hohenzollern, Leichtensten, Solms, &;c., collected themselves, till at length 
almost all the German confederate states of the second and third rank gave 
in their adhesion. The Elector arch-chancellor Dalberg, who had been 
made prince-primate, and who had received Frankfort, together with 
Hanau and FuMa as a principality, was chosen Napoleon's representa- 
tive in the Confederation of the Rhine. By the subjection of many 
small and formerly independent states of the empire under the govern- 
ment of the great prince, the power of the larger number of the mem- 
bers of the confederation was considerably increased. Francis II. now 
abdicated the title of emperor of Germany, and called himself Francis I., 
emperor of Austria, and withdrew the whole of his states from the Ger- 
man Union. By this proceeding, the " Holy Roman empire of the Ger- 
man nation " was dissolved. It had been long since reduced to a shadow 
by internal dissensions and a powerless supreme government. Its might- 
iest limbs were now the vassals of a foreign tyrant. The sense of degra- 
dation pressed heavily upon many a German breast ; but who would 
dare to utter his thoughts after the bold bookseller. Palm, of Nuremberg, 
had become the victim of a disgraceful judicial murder, for 
° ' refusing to give up the author of a pamphlet published by 
him on the abasement of Germany ? 

3. JENA. TILSIT. ERFURT. 

§ 578. The wavering conduct of Prussia had filled Napoleon with the 
deepest anger, and convinced him that the king would be untrustworthy 
as a friend, and cowardly and innocuous as an enemy. He accordingly 
Hung aside all rCv-pect and forbearance, and purposely inflicted many 
mortitications upon the Prussian government. The irritation produced 
by this was soon aggravated into a complete rupture by two causes. 
1. The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine appeared to indicate 
an intention of gradually rendering Germany as dependent upon the 
French empire as were Italy and Holland. Prussia accordingly at- 
tempted to frustrate this plan by the establishment of a northern confede- 
ration, to which all the estates of the empire which had not yet joined 
that of the Rhine might connect themselves ; and felt herself deeply 
aggrieved when Napoleon prevented the execution of the project. 2. It 
was made known in Berlin that the French emperor, dui'ing the renewal 
of the negotiations for peace with the English government, had oifered to 
restore the Electorate of Hanover, that had been surrendered to Prussia 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROK. 445 

without consulting with the Prussian government on the subject. This 
intelligence, together with numerous violations of territory, convinced 
the Prussian government that they had the worst to expect from France. 
A redress of all grievances was demanded in the so-called Ultimatum, 
the army was placed upon a war-footing, and all connection with France 
broken off. 

§ 579. Whilst people in Berlin were expecting the final answer of 
France, the French troops under Napoleon and his experienced marshals 
Avere already in the heart of Thuringia and Saxony, the Elector of which 
had united himself, after some hesitation, to Prussia. The first engage- 
ment at Saalfeld, where the gallant prince Louis found his 
October 10. , , . , -r^ . •, , , ^ «. i 

death, went agamst the Prussians ; but the deteat sultered 

by the army under the command of the old duke of Brunswick, in the 

great double battle of Jena and Auerstadt, was terrible and 

fatal. It decided the fate of the countries between the Rhine 

and the Elbe. The former presumption of the officers and young nobles 

was suddenly turned into despondency, and the greatest confusion and 

helplessness took possession of the leaders. Hohenlohe, with 17,000 men, 

laid down his arms at Prenzlow ; the fortresses of Erfurt, 
October 28. ^.^ , , c, t r, ■ o -, ^ ■ i • r 

JMagdeburg, bpondau, IStettm, &c., surrendered withni a few 

days, with such wonderful celerity, that the commandants of many of 
them were suspected of treachery, so utterly unaccountable did such cow- 
ardice and such entire want of self-reliance appear. Bliicher alone 
saved the honor of Prussia by the bloody combat in and around Lubeck, 
though he could not prevent the horrible storming of this slightly-forti- 
fied town ; in Colberg, also, Gneisenau and Schill, supported by the 
brave citizen, Nettlebeck, courageously resisted the supei'ior force of the 
enemy. Thirteen days after the battle of Jena, Napoleon marched into 
Berlin, and issued his mandates from thence. The elector of Hesse, 
who wished to remain neutral, and who had withdrawn his forces from the 
contest, was obliged to surrender both land and army to the enemy, and 
to seek for protection as a fugitive in a foreign land. He took up his 
residence in Prague. The duke of Brunswick, who had been severely 
wounded, and who was carried into his capital on a litter after the battle 
of Jena, was compelled to seek for refuge in Denmark to die in peace. 
Jena and East Friesland Avere united to Holland ; the Hanse towns, as 
well as Leipsic, Avere oppressed by the deprivation of all English wares, 
and by severe military taxes ; and treasures of art and science, and the 
trophies of former victories, were carried aAvay from all quarters. It 
was only to the Elector of Saxony, whose troops had fought at Jena, that 
Napoleon showed any faA^or. He set the Saxon prisoners at liberty, and 
granted the Elector a favorable peace; upon Avhich the latter, 
dignified Avith the title of king, joined the Confederation of 
the Rhine, like the other Saxon dukes. From this time, Frederick 

38 



446 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Augustus, to tlie misfortune of himself and his people, felt himself bound 
by the ties of gratitude to the French emperor. 

§ 580. The king of Prussia had fled to Konigsberg, where he vainly 
attempted to obtain peace. Napoleon's demands rose with his fortunes. 
In his necessity, Frederick William iurned to his friend Alexander, who 
immediately despatched a Kussian army under Benningsen and others 
into East Prussia, to prevent the French passing the Vistula. Upon this, 
Napoleon issued a proclamation to the Poles, pretendedly in the name of 
Kosciusko, by which these misused people were summoned to fight for 
liberty and independence. The Poles willingly made the greatest sacri- 
fices, and strengthened the ranks of the French by their brave soldiers 
under the command of Dombrowski. Napoleon marched into Warsaw 
amidst the rejoicings of the people ; but the Poles discovered, only too 
soon, that the foreign potentate was more intent upon the gratification of 
his own ambition and love of power, than upon the restoration of their 
empire. Murderous battles were now fought on the banks of the Vistula, 
and torrents of blood shed at Pultusk and JNIorungen. But the great 
Febraary 8, blow was sb'uck in the battle of Preuss-Eylau, where the 
1807. martial spirit of the French and Russians gave rise to a 

contest which in loss of men equals any event of the sort in the world's 
history. Both parties claimed the victory, and their efforts and exhaustion 
were so great, that the war suffered an interruption of four months. 
During this interval, negotiations were again renewed ; but much as the 
king, who was waiting with his fjimily in Memel, might desire the ter- 
mination of the war, that he might free his subjects from the dreadful ex- 
actions of the French, he was too honest to dissever his own cause from 
that of his ally. But when the Silesian fortresses on the Oder, Glogau, 
Brieg, Schweidnitz, and Breslau, fell into the hands of the French by the 

cowardice of their commandants, and even Dantzic was sur- 
May 21. 

rendered to the marshal Lefebvre by the gallant governor 

Kalkreuth, the king lost all confidence in a successful issue. When, 

after the recommencement of hostihties, the French gained a brilliant 

victory over the Russians in the battle of Friedland, on the anniversary 

of the battle of Marengo, and took possession of Konigsberg, the allied 

monarchs, after a personal interview with Bonaparte on the Niemeu, 

thought it prudent to consent to the peace of Tilsit, oppressive 

as were the conditions. By this peace, Frederick William 

lost half his states ; he was compelled to surrender all the lands between 

the Rhine and the Elbe, to consent to the establishment of a dukedom 

of Warsaw under the supremacy of the king of Saxony, to the elevation 

of Dantzic into a free state, and to the payment of the unheard sum of 

150 millions to defray the expenses of the war. Napoleon formed the 

states ceded by Prussia, along with electoral Hesse, Brunswick, and 

South Hanover, into the new kingdom of Westphalia, with the capital, 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 447 

Cassel, and placed there his youngest brother Jerome as king, under con- 
dition, that, as a member of the Rhine Confederation, he should supply 
the emperor with Westphalian troops, and make over to him one-half 
the receipts of his treasury. 

§ 581. Austerlitz and Jena had broken the power of Austria and 
Prussia, so that the destinies of Europe were now guided by France, 
England, and Russia. These three great powers were unanimous in 
this, that they paid no regard to right except where there existed tjie 
power of self-defence, as was shown by the proceedings in Sweden and 
Denmark. Gustavus IV. of Sweden would not accede to the peace of 
Tilsit ; but, supported by England, continued the war alone against Na- 
poleon. Although his conduct at first displayed strength of character 
and magnanimity, his boundless conceit, and his total misapprehension of 
his position and powers, soon showed that his mind must be in a deranged 
state. Strongly impressed with the sanctity of the kingly dignity, he re- 
fused the title of emperor to the ruler of France, and only addressed 
him as General Bonaparte ; involved in the meshes of religious fanati- 
cism, he believed himself ordained by Providence to re-instate the 
Bourbons, and to overthrow the " beast of the Revelations" (Napoleon). 
He carried his hatred against Bonaparte so far as mortally to offend 
Russia and Prussia by sending back their orders, and banishing their 
ambassadors from Stockholm, because these powers had concluded a 
jieace with the usurper. The French conquered Stralsund and the 
island of Rugen, whilst, the Russian army penetrated into Finland and 
made themselves masters of the country. The attempts of the French 
emperor to destroy the trade of Great Britain by a continental blockade 
made the Swedish war a matter of importance to the English. They 
feared lest the French should establish a firm footing on the Baltic, and 
exclude their ships from its shores by shutting up the Sound. They ac- 
cordingly made a proposal to Denmark to enter into an alliance with 
them, and to yield up her noble fleet to their keeping. This proposal 
was rejected with indignation ; whereupon the English fleet appeared in 
September the Sound, bombarded Copenhagen, laid a part of the town 
2-5, 1807. in ashes, and carried off the whole Danish fleet as their prey. 
This breach of the rights of nations enraged the king of Denmark to 
such a degree, that he united himself closely to France, and declared war 
against the English and their ally, the king of Sweden. At this time, 
Napoleon and Alexander were allies. They held the celebrated meeting 
September 27, ^^ Erfurt, where the whole splendor of European magnifi- 
1808. cence was displayed, and where four kings and thirty-four 

princes were assembled together out of Germany, for the purpose of 
paying their homage to the mighty potentate. Here the two emperors 
promised not to interrupt each other in their plans of conquest, so 
that Napoleon was to be left unfettered in Spain, and Alexander in 



448 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Finland, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The kingdom of Sweden was now 
threatened on all sides. The Russians were already approachino- the 
capital, the Danes, and the Spanish troops, who, under the command of 
La Romana, were serving Napoleon, were upon the frontiers ; the army 
and military affairs of Sweden were in the most wretched condition ; the 
heavy taxes could not be raised from the exhausted land ; and yet the 
king obstinately refused all proposals of peace. At this crisis, a conspi- 
racy was formed in the army and capital, in consequence of which Gus- 
tavus IV. was violently seized in his palace, compelled to abdicate his 
throne, and then conducted to an old insular castle. Hereupon the 

Diet declared Gustavus IV. and all his posterity to have 
March 13, 1809.,. „. , , . . ^ ,. •, /^, , ^-ttx , i 

lorteited the crown, invited his uncle, Lharles Xill., to the 

throne, and restricted the monarchical power. This revolution was fol- 
lowed by a peace, by which Finland and the Aaland islands remained 
with Russia. The election of a successor to the throne, which was ren- 
dered necessary by the childless old age of the king, fell upon the mar- 
shal Bernadotte (Ponte-Corvo), who, by his friendly treatment of the 
Swedish troops during the Prussian war, had gained many friends among 
the officers. Bernadotte was, with the unwillingly yielded consent of 
August 21, Napoleon, declared successor to the Swedish throne, and, 
1810. after his accession to the Lutheran church, adopted by 

Charles XIII. 

4. THE EVENTS IN THE PYRENEAN PENINSULA. 

§ 582. Led astray by the success of his arms, Napoleon now proceeded 
from one enterprise to another. Like Charlemagne, whom he adopted as 
his model, he wished to unite the Southern and Western states of Europe 
into a vast empire under the supremacy of France. With this object, 
he sought to gain possession of the Spanish peninsula, and to make him- 
self master of the provinces still left unconquered in Italy. In the first 
place, he demanded of the Portuguese government to renounce the alli- 
ance with England, and to close their harbors against English vessels. 
When the court of Lisbon refused to yield submission to this mandate, 
Napoleon bought over the all-powerful favorite of the royal pair of 
Spain, the " prince of peace," Godoy, by the prospect of a principality 
in Portugal, and sent marshal Junot with an army directly through Spain 
into that country. The dastardly court of Lisbon did not await the 
November, coming of the French, but fled, with all its treasures, in 
1S07. English ships, to the Brazils ; upon which Junot, who had 

been created duke of Abrantes, took possession of the capital and the 
whole country, and then declared, in the name of his commander, " that 
the house of Braganza had ceased to reign." Godoy, who, without 
February 1, either virtue, talent, or merit, had become the absolute ruler 
1808. of Spain by the mere favor of the profligate queen and the 



NAPOLEOiSr, EMPEROR. 449 

boundless weakness of Charles IV., now delivered up his country into 
the hands of Napoleon. Spanish troops under La Roraana entered into 
the service of the emperor, and fought on the Danish islands against the 
Swedes, whilst the soldiers of France were occupying Spain in great 
numbers. This caused commotions amongst the Spanish people ; dis- 
turbances broke out in Aranjuez and Madrid, in which the palace of the 
detested favorite was plundered and destroyed, and he himself roughly 
handled and threatened with death. Terrified by these occurrences, the 
weak Charles abdicated his throne in favor of his eldest son 

March, 1808. ^ ^. ^ ,. , r»/->n iiii 

b erdmand, who, as the enemy oi (jrodoy, was loved by the 
people, but, for the same reason, mortally hated by his parents. But 
notwithstanding the humility with which Ferdinand attempted to gain 
Napoleon's consent to this change of the crown, and at the same time be- 
came a suitor for the hand of one of his relatives — the French emperor 
concealed his sentiments, oi-dered Murat to take possession of Madrid, 
and then invited the royal pair, along with the " prince of peace " and 
Ferdinand, to a personal conference with him in Bayonne. Ferdinand 
did not dare to resist the summons of the potentate, although warned by 
his friends, and though the people sought to restrain him from undertak- 
ing this fatal journey. Once in Bayonne, the royal family of Spain was 
entangled by Napoleon in the meshes of a false and insidious state policy. 
Charles was prevailed upon to revoke his abdication, and to transfer the 
regained crown to Napoleon and his family. Ferdinand, incapable of a 
vigorous resolution, allowed himself to be induced by the emperor's 
threats and intrigues to acknowledge this arbitrary act. He resided 
henceforth in France, in the enjoyment of an annuity, whilst Charles 
IV. and his family settled in Rome. Napoleon then named his brother 
Joseph king of Spain, and sought to win over the people to 
the new system by the restoration of the Cortes Constitu- 
tion, and by improving the affairs of government, and of the adminis- 
tration of justice. But the frightful insurrection in Madi-id, by which 

1200 French soldiers of Murat's army were killed, whilst 
May 2. . j ■ 

the intrigues in Bayonne were yet pending, showed that the 

nation would not submit so easily to the foreign yoke as the imbecile royal 
family. 

§ 583. Even before Joseph, after the surrender of the kingdom of 
Naples to his brother-in-law, Murat, held his solemn entry into Madrid, 
juntas were formed in several towns, which, as provisional governments, 
took the regulation of affairs into their own hands, and refused obedience 
to the new king. Armed bands under daring leaders, served them for 
defence ; and, favored by the ravines and mountain heights of their coun- 
try, began a guerilla war against the French soldiers. Whilst the edu- 
cated and enlightened were more attached to the new system, which 
afforded a life of political freedom, than to the kingly absolutism and 

38* 



450 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

priestly rule of the former period, and M'ere consequently nicknamed 
" Josepliinos," the great mass of the people blindly followed the exhorta- 
tions of fanatical monks and priests, who held the sacrilegious French in 
horror. It is true that Napoleon's army possessed sufficient power to 
maintain the king and his minister in Madrid, but their laws were re- 
spected no further than they could be supported by French bayonets. 
The more remote towns and provinces followed partly the juntas, which 
had their central point in the grand junta of Seville, and partly their 
own will, without recognizing any government whatever. But anarchy 
was the very thing that saved Spain in this stormy period. Europe 
gazed in astonishment upon a people who courageously faced death for 
their nationality and independence, for their ancient manners and reli- 
gious usages, for their superstitions and customary arrangements. The 
leaders of the bands, wdth their brave but undisciplined followers, avoided 
open battles ; their strength consisted in unexpected attacks and petty 
warfare. And whilst the French dissipated their strength in these single 
encounters, and in the seige of well-defended towns, the English, sup- 
ported by the natives, began the first successful war by land against Na- 
poleon. At first, the French arms were successful. Bessieres drove 
back the unpractised troops of Spain at Rio Secco, and it 

July 14, 1808. / ^ ^ , n . , 

seemed as if the assumption of arms by the Spanish people 
was only to increase the triumph of the military emperor, — when sud- 
denly the report spread abroad of Dupont's capitulation at Baylen, in 
Andalusia, by wdiich 20,000 Fi'enchmen were made prisoners 
of war, and perished miserably. This blow filled the nation 
with enthusiasm and military ardor. Joseph left Madrid, the French 
army retreated beyond the Ebro, and intelligence was shortly after 
brought that, in Portugal also, the French were obliged to retreat before 
the English, under Wellington, Moore, and others, and that they would 
have experienced a fate similar to that of Dupont's army, if the English, 
August 30, by the over-hasty capitulation of Cintra, had not allowed 
1808. Junot's troops a free passage to France. The affairs of the 

French in the Spanish peninsula seemed ruined. 

§ 584. Napoleon himself now marched at the head of a mighty army 
into Spain. The unpractised troops of the insurgents, who opposed 
themselves without any regular plan to the great winner of battles, were 
defeated in several engagements, so that the emperor, in four Aveeks, was 
December 4 ^^le to enter Madrid and to give back the crown to his 

1808. brother Joseph. Whilst Napoleon was making fresh arrange- 
ments in the capital, attempting by kindness and threats to induce the 
Spaniards to acknowledge Joseph, and inflicting severe punishments upon 
some of the most refractory, his marshals were sustaining bloody en- 
February 20, counters with the guerilla chiefs and the English. Saragossa 

1809. was taken after the most desperate resistance, and the gallant 



NAPOLEON, EMPEKOE. 451 

^ ^ defender of the city, Palafox, conveyed to France ; the 

brave general Moore was killed whilst embarking his troops 

at Corunna ; and although Wellington obtained the advantage in the 

^ , battle of Talavera, yet the English army restricted itself 

July 2C. •' c J 

for some time to the defence of Portugal. Seville, also, and 
the Avhole of Andalusia and Qranada, fell into the hands of the Fi-ench. 
Sjiain, nevertheless, held herself erect. The national government re- 
moved to Cadiz, which bade defiance to every storm ; and the Spanish 
genei-al, La Romana, Avho, upon the news of his country's rise, had 
escaped with his troops from Denmark in English ships to his native soil, 
brought system and order to the guerilla warfare. 

When, in the year 1809, the new war with Austria called the emperor 
from Spain, he left behind him a large army, consisting for the most part of 
Germans. At the conclusion of the Austrian war, this force was increased 
to nearly 300,000 men, who, under the command of his most experienced 
marshals, (Soult, Massena, Suchet, Ney, St. Cyr, Marmont, Macdonald, 
&c.), traversed the peninsula in every direction, and raised the renown 
of the French arms. But victories only increased the hatred towards 
the French ; the petty war, under the daring leaders, Ballasteros, 
Empecinado, Morillo, O'Donnel, Mina, Moreto, assumed a more sangui- 
nary character, and no courage was of avail against the assassinations to 
which the revengeful Spaniards were driven by rage and fanaticism. 
The most heroic deeds that M'ere performed by Napoleon's warriors, 
under the fervid sun of Spain, now in the battle-field, and now in toil- 
some marches, through mountains and ravines, and again in sieges and 
storms (Valencia, Gerona), contributed nothing to the quiet possession 
of the country. In the meanwhile, the Cortes Assembly in Cadiz pro- 
jected the liberal constitution, which is known as the Constitution of 
the year '12, and which was to have destroyed absolute monarchy 
and the power of the priests in Spain for ever. But this Constitution, 
owing to the hatred of the priests, remained unknown and detested by 
the people. 

§ 585. The Russian campaign of 1812 compelled the emperor to 
diminish the Spanish army. Wellington took advantage of this to march 
into Spain with a larger force. Supported by the guerilla bands, the 
British army soon obtained advantages over their opponents, who were 
suffering from every kind of want. After Marmont's defeat 
at Salamanca by Wellington, the English took possession of 
Madrid and drove out the French king. Suchet, duke of Albufera, and 
Soult, both alike brave and rapacious, held fortune firm to their standards, 
and Joseph was once more able to take possession of his tottering throne; 
but the frightful catastrophe produced by the Russian campaign com- 
pelled the French army in the western peninsula also to retreat, and 
obliged Joseph to quit the Spanish territory. After the victory of 



452 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Vittoria, "Wellington followed the retreating forces over the Pyrenees, 
r ^, .0.0 ^"'^ found a brave opponent in Soult, even on French "-round. 

June 21, 1813. ' ^ ° 

ho late as the 10th of April, 1814, when the allies were en- 
camped on the Elysian fields of Paris, the marshal still resisted the ad- 
vancing enemy at Toulouse, although compelled to yield the field to the 
superior enemy. 

§ 586. Imprisonment of the Pope. — The hatred against the 
French, and the fanatical fury of the Spaniards, were the work of the 
priests. Napoleon might have learned from this Avhat power the religion 
he denied, and its venerable usages, were capable of exerting upon the 
minds of believers ; but in his pride he refused to recognize any bonds 
that could limit his ambition. When the pope refused to lay an embargo 
upon the English ships in the ports of the States of the Church, and to 
enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with France, Napoleon in- 
flicted upon him a succession of injuries, and united some portions of the 
ecclesiastical States to the kingdom of Italy. This, however, in no ways 
subdued the resolution of the inflexible prince of the Church ; on the 
contrary, he was thereby induced, in the second war with Austria, to 
make common cause with the opponents of the emperor, against the 
AT 97 isoQ S"Pi"Gi^^cy of France. Hereupon, Napoleon, in a decree 
published at Schcinbrunn, declared that the temporal power 
of the pope had ceased ; and when the holy father, ii-ritated at this, ful- 
June 16. minated an excommunication against the emperor. Napoleon 

J J „ ordered him to be carried off from Rome by violence, ba- 

nished the cardinals, and united the States of the Chui'ch with 
the French territory. Pius VII. lived in several towns, till at length a 
residence was allotted him in Fontainbleau. As he obstinately refused, 
whilst in a state of captivity and deprived of his council of cardinals, to 
fill up the vacant bishoprics, or to arrange any ecclesiastical affairs, Na- 
poleon found himself again compelled to arbitrary and despotic measures. 
The pope, however, at length allowed himself, in an unguarded mo- 
ment, to be persuaded to an arrangement by which his authority was 
diminished. 

5. THE SECOND AUSTRIAN "WAR. HOFER. SCHILL. (1809.) 

§ 587. Napoleon's arbitrary proceedings in Italy, and his increasing 
influence in Germany, awakened the anxiety of Austria. The cabinet 
of Vienna, therefore, resolved once more to try the fortune of war. The 
popular war in Spain, in which the French emperor was obliged to em- 
ploy a considerable portion of his forces, the universal discontent at the 
restrictions upon commerce, the deep movement in Northern Germany, 
all this seemed to point out that the f^ivorable moment was arrived for 
Austria to regain the power she had lost, and to break to pieces the 
foreign despotism. The landsturm was called out, and an attempt was 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 453 

made, by means of vehement proclamations, full of fine promises, to 
awaken enthusiasm and patriotic feeling. But the magic of the imperial 
name was still too powerful. The jirinces of the Rhine Confederation 
strengthened the French army with their brave troops, and the soldiers 
of South Germany poured forth their blood for a foreign despot against 
the warriors of their own race. 

In April, Austria ordered its army, which was placed under 

A. D. 1809. t n t 111 /^l 1 1 * T~> • 

the command of the archduke Charles, to march into -Bavaria 
and Italy. But the first encounters decided the fate of the war. Napo- 
leon, supported by Wirtemberg and Bavaria, marched down the Danube 
with a considerable force, drove the enemy over the Inn by a succession 
April 20—22, of vlctorious cncountcrs (Abensberg, Eckmiihl), and marched 
1809. for the second time into the heart of the Austrian dominions. 

On the 10th of May, the emperor stood before the walls of the capital, 
which, three days after, he entered as a conquerer. Below Vienna, the 
north bank of the Danube, which is there crossed by numerous bridges, 
was defended by the archduke Charles. Upon the French army attempt- 
ing to cross the i-iver from Lobau, an island in the stream, they met with 
such opposition in the two days' combat of Aspern and Es- 
lingen, that they were obliged to relinquish the attempt. 
This bloody, though indecisive battle, where 12,000 French soldiers, in- 
cluding marshal Lannes, were left upon the field, gave the first shock to 
the belief in Napoleon's invincibility, and increased the confidence of the 
oppressed people. It was only when the emperor had received reenforce- 
ments, and Eugene Beauharnais had united himself to the grand army, 
after the victory at Eaab, that the French again, and this time with 
more success, attempted the passage of the river, and defeated 
' ' the archduke in the great battle of Wagram. The loss on 
both sides was tolerably equal, and it was not to be disputed that the French 
no longer retained their former superiority in the field. Austria, a few 
days later, concluded, over hastily, the truce of Znaym, that 
she might open negotiations for a fresh peace. 
§ 588. This truce was fatal to the Tyrolese. The warlike inhabitants 
of the mountainous region of the Tyrol, who were attached with the 
truest devotion to Austria, had risen at the commencement of the war to 
free themselves from the detested government of Bavaria, under which 
they had been placed by the peace of Presburg. The stimulating exhor- 
tations of their priests, who possessed great influence over these simple 
mountaineers, and the enticements and promises of Austria, produced a 
general insurrection. Trusting to the assistance of Austria, the Tyrolese 
seized the fiimiliar rifle, and, like the Spaniards, directed from the moun- 
tain heijrhts and srullies the unerrin"; tube against the French and Bava- 
rians, hazarding life and property in defence of the customs of their fathers. 
At their head stood Andreas Hofer, a publican in the Passeyrthal, a man 



454 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

of great consideration among his countrymen both on account of his bodily 
strength and courage, as well as his piety, his patriotism, and his honor- 
able character. Slirewder and more far-sighted men, as Hormayr, the 
historian of the Tyrol and of this war, made use of Hofer's influence with 
the people to carry the movement through the whole land. By the side 
of Hofer stood Speckbacher, the soul of the confederation. A frightful 
war broke out ; the Bavarians were compelled to evacuate the German 
Tyrol, and Hofer took possession of Innspruck as the Austrian com- 
mandant. The truce of Znaym produced discouragement and irresolution 
among the insurgents, without, however, putting an end to the war. But 
when the conclusion of the peace of Vienna or Schonbrunn, by Avhich 
Austria again lost 2000 square (German) miles and three millions of 
subjects, deprived the Tyrolese of all hopes of assistance, and the Bava- 
rians and French, with increased forces, marched into the land from three 
different quarters, the insurrection was quelled. Innspruck again fell 
into the hands of the Bavai'ians. Speckbacher and other leaders sought 
their safety in flight ; but Hofer, who, led astray by bad counsel, had 
again taken up arms, was discovered in a cave where he had concealed 
Februaiy 18, himself for two months with his family, and shot in Mantua. 
1810. He died with the courage of a hero, and highly reverenced 

by his countrymen. Tyrol was divided into three portions. . 

§ 589. During the second Austrian war, attempts were made in various 
parts of Germany to shake off the foreign yoke. In Kurhessen, the 
colonel, Von Dorenberg, attempted to overthrow the king of Westphalia by 
an insurrection. The failure of this attempt did not deter the brave major 
Von Schill from hazarding a similar one in Prussia. With a troop of 
bold volunteers, he hoped to arouse the North of Germany against the 
foreign despotism. But fear of the great emperor of battles paralyzed 
the arms of the people. Pursued by the enemy, Schill threw himself 
Jlav 31 ii^to the strong town of Stralsund, in the hope of being able 

1809. to take ship from thence to England. But he fell during an 

assault, together with most of his companions in arms, beneath the sabres 
of the enemy's cavalry ; the rest were made prisoners of war, the officers 
shot in Wesel and Brunswick, and the privates condemned to the French 
galleys. 

Duke William of Brunswick, the heroic son of the field-marshal, was 
more fortunate. He had marched to the aid of Austria with his " black 
band ; " but treating the truce of Znaym with contempt, because in it he 
had only been regarded as an Austrian marshal, and not as an independent 
prince of the empire, he fought his way with incredible bravery through 
hostile lands and armies to the North Sea, whence he escaped with his 
October 12 followers to England. The intense excitement of men's minds 
1809. was evinced by the attempted assassination of Napoleon by a 

young man of Hamburg named Staps. Being seized by General Eapp, 
and confessing his intention, he was lead to death. 



NAPOLEON, EMPEKOK. 455 

If the enterprises of Scliill and Dorenberg were foolhardy and incon- 
siderate, they were nevertheless of importance as proofs of the sentiments 
prevailing among the people, and of the newly-aroused patriotism. These 
sentiments were encouraged and fostered chiefly in Prussia. It was here 
that patriotically disposed men had assumed the conduct of affairs after 
the disastrous days of Jena and Tilsit, and driven the characterless old 
Prussian party from the councils of the king. The high-minded baron 
Von Stein attempted to elevate the citizen and peasant class by introduc- 
ing a liberal municipal government, rendering the possession of landed 
property attainable by every one, and limiting the class privileges of the 
middle ages. Scharnhorst completely revolutionized the aflfliirs of the 
army : the employment of mercenary troops was superseded by the 
universal obligation to bear arras, the feelings of honor were excited 
among the privates by throwing oj^en the rank of officer to all, and by the 
abolition of degrading punishments. It is true that the king, in a short 
time, found himself compelled to remove his patriotic advisers, when the 
mandate of Napoleon outlawed the baron Von Stein, and compelled him 
to take refuge in Russia. But their works, nevertheless, i-emained, and 
formed the groundwork of a system of government which was founded 
upon the legal equality of the whole of the citizens. Stein's successor, 
the astute chancellor Von Hardenberg, proceeded, as much as possible, 
upon the same principles ; and the Tugendbund, which was joined by some 
of the noblest men of the country, aroused and encouraged patriotism and 
love of freedom among the people and the ardent youth. 

§ 590. The French Empire at its height. — Napoleon stood at 
the summit of his power and greatness after the peace of Vienna. It 
was only the reflection that he had no heir that occasioned him any dis- 
quiet; he accordingly got himself divorced from Josephine, upon the 
December 15, gi'ound of some informality in their nuptials, and married 
1809. Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor of Austria. It was 

on the 1st of April, 1810, that he celebrated his nuptials with the " daughter 
of the Caesars." Five queens supported the train of the bride, and an 
unexampled magnificence was displayed. But a fire during the ball that 
was given by the Austrian ambassador, Schwarzenberg, in honor of the 
newly-married pair, and in which his sister perished in the flames, was 
regarded as an omen of evil promise. When a son was born to the em- 
March 20, peror in the following year, who received the pompous title 
1811. of king of Rome, Napoleon's fortune seemed to be complete 

and the futui-e of France secured. But pride and ambition drove him on 
from one act of violence to another ; there was no end of the alliances, 
separations, and interchanges of lands and territories : what the despot 
created to-day, he destroyed on the morrow ; him whom he made a great 
man one year he humbled in the following. The blockade of the continent 
became daily more rigid, to the despair of merchants and traders. When 



456 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

king Louis of Holland resisted this, and permitted his people some relax- 
ation, lie was so unkindly and unworthily treated by his imperial brother 
that he renounced the throne, upon which Napoleon united the kingdom 
of Holland with France. A few months later, he also added the Hanse 
towns, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and, besides these, the dukedom of 
Oldenburg and the provinces between the Rhine and the Elbe, to the 
French empire, which now ruled the whole coast of the North Sea, and 
numbered loO departments. Hamburg was made the capital of the new 
territory, and the cruel Davoust placed there as ruler. The slavery 
within increased with the extension without. A formidable state-police sup- 
pressed the last remains of freedom, and threatened every suspected person 
with persecution and imprisonment. Arbitrariness, passion, and despotism, 
usurped the place of popular rights ; restrictions on trade, oppressive tax- 
ation, and military conscriptions were the burdens imposed upon friendly 
states ; the calamities of war, exactions, and the quarterings of troops, were 
the miseries of the hostile. 

G. THE WAR AGAINST RUSSIA. 

§ 591. The extension of the empire of France even to the shores of the 
Baltic, by which means the duke of Oldenburg, a near relation of the im- 
perial family of Russia, was deprived of his lands, completely destroyed- 
the friendship between Alexander and Napoleon, which had already 
grown cold since the increase of the dukedom of Warsaw by the peace 
of Vienna. This hostile feeling, which was first displayed in the angry 
language of diplomatists and in newspaper articles, was increased when 
the Russian government proclaimed a new tariff unfavorable to the im- 
portation of French goods. Both parties prepared themselves for a des- 
perate struggle. The emperor of Russia concluded a peace with the 
Turks by the mediation of the English, and brought over to his side 
Bernadotte of Sweden, whom Napoleon had greatly injured ; the French 
emperor, on the other hand, arranged a treaty with Prussia and Austria, 
by which he obtained a considerable increase of his forces. Alexander's 
defiant demand, that the French garrisons should at once evacuate Pome- 
rania and Russia, produced a declaration of war. 

§ 592. In May, Napoleon, accompanied by his wife, made his appear- 
ance in Dresden, where the princes of the Rhine Confederation, the em- 
peror of Austria, and the king of Prussia, were likewise present to pay 
their homage to the potentate who was now summoning half Europe to 
arms against Russia. After a residence of ten days among this brilliant 
assemblage of princes, Napoleon hastened to his army, nearly half a 
million strong, and which, with more than a thousand cannon and 20,000 
baggage waggons, was lying scattered along between the Vistula and the 
Niemen. The left wing, consisting for the most part of Poles and Prus- 
sians, under the command of Macdonald, was placed upon the banks of 



NAPOLEON, EMPEROR. 457 

the Baltic ; the right, formed by the Austrian auxiliaries led by Schwar- 
zenberg, with a division of French and Saxons under Eegnier, stood on 
the Lower Bug, opposite the southern army of the Russians ; the body, 
commanded by Napoleon himself, and under him by the most experienced 
marshals of his school, crossed the Niemen in June and marched into 
Wilna, The- appearance of the French awakened the most sanguine ex- 
pectations and warlike enthusiasm among the Poles. The diet of War- 
saw declared the restoration of the kingdom of Poland, and determined 
upon the formation of a general confederation. But popular movements 
were not to Napoleon's taste ; he forbade a rise en masse, and damped 
the enthusiasm by declaring, that, out of regard to Austria, he could not 
consent to the restoration of the Polish republic in its whole extent. 
Nevertheless, PoHsh warriors under Poniatowski and others fought with 
their accustomed valor beneath the eagles of Napoleon, and the Polish 
people supported, to the best of their power, the foreign troops that were 
now marching in the midst of dreadful rains from Wilna to Witepsk. 
Moscow, " the heart of Russia," was Napoleon's aim ; but he soon dis- 
covered what powerful aUies the Russians were possessed of in the nature 
of their country. The roads were impassable, supplies did not arrive, 
the poor and badly cultivated soil afforded little means of subsistence ; 
diseases diminished the number of troops and filled the hospitals. 

§ 503. The Russian generals, Barclay de Tolly and Bagration, avoided 
a fixed battle, and lured the emperor onwards deeper into the country. 
AuoTist 17, The first battle was fought at Smolensk ; but after fighting a 
1812. whole day Avithout any decisive result, the Russians, in the 

night, left the town, which was in flames. On the following morning, 
the French found the site of the town drenched with blood and covered 
with corpses. A council of war was held in Smolensk, but, despite the 
number of voices that were raised against the continuance of the cam- 
paign, Napoleon insisted upon the conquest of Moscow, where he intended 
to pass the winter, and to force Alexander to a peace. The Russians 
murmured at Barclay's mode of conducting the war, as the Romans had 
once done at the delay of Fabius; for which reason, Alexander appointed 
General Kutusoff to the command, who, as a native of the country, was 
nearer to the people, and who was much beloved by the lower class of 
Russians for his attachment to the religious customs, and to the old Rus- 
sian manners and usages. Kutusoff dared not allow the holy city of 
Moscow, with its innumerable towers and golden cupolas, to fall into 
the hands of the French, unless he wished to forfeit all the affections of 
the people. He halted his troops, and by this means brought about the 

, ^ murderous battle of Borodino, on the Moskwa, in which the 
September 7. _^ ,.■,-, . -, . . „ , ,.■,-,■, 

Jb rench mdeed remamed in possession of the field, but were 

obliged to allow the Russians to retire in good order. Upwards of 70,- 

000 bodies covered the field ; Ney, " the prince of the Moskwa," was the 

39 



458 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

hero of the day. On the 14th of September, the French entered Mos- 
cow. The nobility and the better class of citizens had left the place. 
A secret horror fell upon the soldiers as they entered the town, and saw 
nothing but a few of the rabble creeping about; but who can describe 
their terror when the four days' conflagration of Moscow, which, in the 
absence of all means of extinguishing it, soon became a sea of flame, re- 
duced the city, which was built of wood, and the ancient Kremlin, which 
Napoleon himself had chosen for a residence, to ashes ? The governor 
of Moscow, Rostopschin, had given orders for this horrible deed, without 
the command of the Tzai-, for the pui-pose of depriving the grand army 
of its winter quarters, and of compelling it to a disastrous retreat. For- 
getful of all order and discipline, the soldiers rushed into the burning 
houses to gratify their passions and love of plunder. 

§ 594. From all this it was apparent that the Russians were waging 
a war of extermination ; and yet Napoleon, from some unaccountable 
delusion, suffered himself to be decoyed, by the artfully sustained hopes 
of a peace, into remaining thirty- four days in Moscow without perceiving 
that Kutusoff was seeking to detain him till the commencement of winter, 
that during the reti-eat the cold might destroy the half-clad soldiers, who 
were suffering from the want of the merest necessaries. At length, late 
in October, was commenced that fatal retreat of the grand army, which 
has no parallel in the history of the sufferings of war. The plan at first 
contemplated, of marching upon Kaluga, was given up after 
the dreadful battle of Malo-Jaroslowetz, and the road towards 
Smolensk over the corpse-covered battle field of Borodino was entered 
upon. In November, the cold reached 18, and afterwards became 27 
degrees below zero. Who can describe all the sufferings, battles, and 
fatigues, by which the grand army was gradually destroyed in the midst 
of the stern winter? Hunger, cold, and exhaustion produced greater 
ravages than the bullets of the Russians or the lances of the Cossacks. 
It was a horrible sight to see thousands of starved or frozen soldiers lying 
in the public roads, or on the desolate steppes covered with snow and ice, 
intermingled with fallen horses, abandoned arms, and rich articles of 
plunder. Kutusoff, who, in a proclamation, ascribed the burning of 
Moscow to the French, to inflame the hatred of the people still more 
against them, never left their flank, and forced them to contest every 
yard of ground. When Smolensk was reached, about the middle of No- 
vember, the army still numbered about 40,000 men, fit for service ; these 
were followed by upwards of of 30,000 unarmed stragglers, without dis- 
cipline, order, or leaders ; a picture of wretchedness and horror. And 
yet it was here that the greatest misery began, inasmuch as, by some 
error in the orders, the expected supplies of arms, clothes, and necessaries 
were not forthcoming in the town, and the enemy with increased forces 
were obstructing the path of march. The hero of the retreat was Ney, 



GERMAN WAR OF LIBERATION. 459 

the commander of the rear, the " bravest of the brave." His passage 
over the frozen but partly thawed Dnieper, during the night, v/as one of 
the most daring feats recorded in history. On the 25th of November, ■ 
the army arrived at the ever-memorable river Beresina. Two bridges 
were thrown across the stream in the presence of the hostile ai'mj', and 
the small remnant that still preserved its discipline passed over in the 
midst of innumerable dangers ; but nearly 18,000 stragglers, that did not 
arrive in time, fell into the hands of the enemy. How many were 
drowned between the masses of ice in the cold waves of the river, or were 
trampled down and destroyed in the dreadful press, no one can tell. Af- 
November ter the passage of the Beresina, Napoleon had still 8,000 
26 - 29. soldiers fit for service. Ney was the last man of the rear- 

guard. According to the official account, 243,600 enemies' bodies were 
buried in Russia. Half of Europe had cause to mourn. On the 3d of 
December, Najjoleon published the celebrated 29th bulletin, which in- 
formed the expectant people, who had been without intelligence for 
months, that the emperor was safe and the grand army destroyed. Two 
days afterwards, he made over the command to Murat, and hastened to 
Paris to arrange fresh armaments. 



D. DISSOLUTION OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE, AND 
ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRESH SYSTEM. 

1. THE GERMAN WAR OF LIBERATIOX, AND THE FALL OF 

NAPOLEON. 

§ 595. The saying attributed to Talleyrand, that the Russian cam- 
paign was " the beginning of the end," soon proved true. No doubt, 
oppressive conscriptions soon filled up the chasms in the French army, 
but the faith in Napoleon's invincibility was gone ; and fi-esh armies 
formed from young and inexperienced men were opposed to an enemy 
inspired to great actions both by the victory they had attained, and by 
the newly-awakened feeling of patriotism. So early as the 30th of De- 
cember, the Prussian general, York, who commanded under Macdonald, 
on the east coast, had entered into an understanding with the Russian 
marshal, Diebitsch, and had desisted, together with his troops, from any 
further hostilities. It is true that this proceeding was publicly censured 
in Berlin ; but the king's journey to Breslau, where many patx-iotic men 
assembled themselves around him, was the first step towards the alliance 
with Russia, which was completed in the following February. The 
February 3, boundless ill-usage experienced by Prussia had excited such 
1813. a detestation of the foreign despotism, that the king's " Call 

to his people " to take up arms av/akened an incredible ardor for war. 



460 - THE LATEST PERIOD. 

The enthusiasm seized upon all, ages and conditions. Youths and men 
withdrew themselves from their wonted occupations, and from the circles 
of affection, that they might dedicate their strength to the liberation of 
their fatherland. Students and teachers left the lecture-room, oificials 
left their posts, young nobles the homes of their fathers ; they seized the 
musket and knapsack, and placed themselves in the ranks as common 
soldiers, along with the mechanic who had come forth from his workshop, 
and the peasant who had exchanged the ploughshare for the swoi'd. 

§ 59 G. The allied monarchs attempted to win over the king of Saxony 
to their cause. But Frederick Augustus resisted the invitation. Grati- 
tude for the many proofs of favor and confidence which had been shown 
him by Napoleon, and fear of the anger of that potentate, bound him fast 
to his alliance with the French emperor. He placed his lands, his for- 
tresses, and his troops at his disposal, and Saxony accordingly became the 
seat of the war. In the first battles at Liitzen, the French indeed re- 
tained possession of the field, and drove back their opponents 
as far as the Oder ; but the heroism of the young German 
May 20. warriors, who fearlessly presented their breasts to the storm 

of balls, showed the enemy that a different spirit had taken possession of 
the Prussians from that displayed at Jena. Scharnhorst breathed forth 
his heroic soul at Liitzen. Among the thousands who strewed the field 
in these two engagements were Bessieres and Duroc. The death of the 
latter, whom Napoleon loved and esteemed above all others for his amia- 
bility, fidelity, and attachment, was a great shock to the French emperor. 
For the first time, a dark presentiment of the mutabilities of life seemed 
to take jjossession of his breast. But pride and presumption hurried 
him onwards. It was in vain that Austria endeavored, during a short 
cessation of hostilities, to negotiate a peace at the Congress of Prague ; 
Napoleon insolently refused to surrender any of the con- 
quered countries. This was followed by a breaking up of 
August 12. the truce, and by Austria's declaration of war against France. 
It is true that Napoleon, in the battle of Dresden, once more 
° " ' chained victory to his eagles, and had the pleasure of seeing 
his opponent, Moreau, whom Alexander had summoned from America, 
carried from the field mortally wounded ; but the fruits of the Dresden 
victory were destroyed (1) by Bliicher's simultaneous engagement on the 
Katzbach in Silesia, against Macdonald, a battle in which 
' ^ " ' Marshal " Forwards " gained the title of a prince of the 
battle-field ; (2) by the French general, Vandamme, being defeated and 
made prisoner with his whole army, in the hotly contested battle of 
Culm, a catastrophe that was brought about by Kleist's daring march 
across the heights of Nollendorf, and by the pertinacious 

Auf. 29-30. . . J 1 

° courage of the Russian guards under Ostermann ; and (3) 

August 23. by the sj)lendid feats of the Prusso-Swedish army at Gros- 
Septembere. Beeren and Dennewitz. 



GERMAN WAR OF LIBERATION. ' 461 

§ 597. By the autumn, the result of this great struggle was scarcely 

doubtful ; the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine gradually fell 

off from Napoleon, and joined the allies ; thus Bavaria, who 
Octobers. , , , / ' ^ t.- -■ • , a ' -r ^ , , 

concluded the treaty oi Kied with Austria. In October, the 

armies united themselves together in the broad plain of Leipsic ; the 
Austrians, under prince Schwarzenberg, in whose hands the management 
of the whole was placed ; the Russians, under Barclay, Benningsen, and 
others ; the Prussians, under Blucher ; and the Swedes, under Berna- 
dotte. The forces of the allies (300,000 men) were superior to the army 
conducted by Napoleon himself by 100,000 men. It was in vain that the 
French emperor, to whom the god of battles had so often been propitious, 
unfolded his mighty talents ; it was in vain that the most distinguished 
marshals of his school, Ney, Murat, Augereau, Macdonald, the Pole 
Poniatowski, and many others, exerted their strength to the utmost. The 
October 16-18 three days' battle fought in Leipsic and the neighboring vil- 
lages was the grave of the French empire. After suffering 
an enormous loss, Napoleon, in the night of the 19th October, quitted the 
town, which was immediately taken possession of by the allies. The 
over-hasty destruction of the Elster bridge delivered up 18,000 soldiers 
fit for battle into the hands of the victors, to say nothing of the sick and 
the wounded. Poniatowski, who during the battle had been made mar- 
shal, found his death in the waters. The French, closely pursued by the 
enemy, advanced by hasty marches by Erfurt to the Rhine. Their pas- 
sage was opposed at Ilanau by "Wrede, with Bavarians and Austrians ; 
but by this he only gave the "dying lion" an opportunity of displaying 
October 30, l^is military skill. The victory that was gained at Hanau 
31- over the wounded "Wrede opened to the French the passage 

to the Rhine by the way of Frankfurt. But the unfortunates all carried 
the germs of mortal disease in their breasts, and half of them died before 
the end of the year in over-crowded hospitals. The dissolution of the 
kingdom of Westphalia, the return of the Elector of Hesse, and of the 
dukes of Brunswick and Oldenberg, to their own dominions, the impri- 
sonment of the king of Saxony, and the breaking up of tlie Confederation 
of the Rhine, now followed in quick succession. Dalberg renounced his 
archdukedom of Frankfurt ; Wirtemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, con- 
cluded treaties with Austria, and arrayed their troops beneath the stand- 
ard of the allies. It was only in Hamburg that the French maintained 
themselves, under the cruel Davoust, till the May of 1814, and practised 
dreadful exactions and oppressions. The king of Denmark was punished 
for his adherence to Napoleon by the loss of Norway, which was given 
Januaiy 14, to Sweden by the peace of Kiel. The same thing happened 
1814. in Italy. The viceroy, Eugene, left the beautiful lands of the 

Po to the Austrians, after a gallant defence, and joined his father-in-law 
in Bavaria. The archduke Ferdinand returned to Tuscany, and the 

39* 



462 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

States of the Church received the severely-tried Pope Pius VII. Naples 
alone remained for a short time in the hands of the cavalry leader, Murat, 
who, having quarrelled with his brother-in-law, joined himself to Austria. 
§ 598. The allied monarchs held a council with their ministers and 
generals in Frankfurt, established a provisional government over the con- 
quered lands, and again made the French emperor an offer of peace, if 
he would content himself with the Rhine as the boundary of France. As, 
however, the vast preparations that Napoleon was making, by means of 
a severe conscription, convinced the allied powers that their adversary 
was going once more to try the chances of battle, it was determined to 
January 1, cross the Rhine. It was on new-year's night that Bliicher 
1814. crossed the German river, at several points between Mann- 

heim and Coblentz, with the Silesian army, whilst Schwarzenberg mai'ched 
with the main body through Switzerland to the south-east of France, and 
a second Prussian army, under Bulow, freed Holland, and enabled the 
Stadtholder to return to his states. In Champagne, the armies of Bliicher 

and Schwarzenberg met together, and won the battle of 
February 1. o o ^ 

Brienne (la Rothiere). But, as the difficulty of obtaining 

provisions compelled the two armies again to separate, whilst Schwarzen- 
berg marched along the Seine, and Bliicher followed the course of the 
Marne, the French emperor, whose military talents again blazed forth in 
their fullest lustre, succeeded in repeatedly defeating the Silesian army 
(at Montniirail, Chateau-Thierry), and compelling it to retreat. After 
this, he suddenly threw himself upon the main army, and 
drove this also back upon Troyes by the victory of Monte- 
reau. These events made such an impression upon the allies, that it 
would not have been difficult for the emperor, in the fresh negotiations 
for peace that were opened at Chatillon, to have secured himself upon 
the throne of France, if he would only have given up the other conquered 
countries. But, as he increased his demands v/ith every favorable turn 
of fortune, only gave limited powers to his ambassador, Caulaincourt, 
and paralyzed the negotiations by ambiguous and undecisive declarations, 

the decision was delayed until Bliicher, Napoleon's most 
March 7 9. 

implacable enemy, had gained fresh advantages over the de- 
bilitated French army at Craonne and Laon. The negotiations were 
now broken off, and the dethronement of Bonaparte resolved upon. The 

battle of Arcis on the Aube, convinced the French emperor 
■ March 20 21. 

' ' that his weakened and exhausted army would avail no longer 

against the iron ranks of the enemy ; and this conviction made hinl irre- 
solute. Whilst the allies were marching upon Paris, and his presence 
in the capital was imperatively called for, he wasted his time in daring 
but fruitless marches. The heroic exertions of a few thousand National 
Guards at Fere-Champenoise was the last display of popular energy. A 
few days later, the hostile army stormed Montmartre. Upon this, Joseph, 



THE KESTORATION AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 463 

to whom Napoleon had entrusted the defence of the capital, placed his 
authority in the hands of Mortier and Marmoiit, and retired with the 
empress and the regency to Blois. The two marshals were soon corn- 
March 31. P®^^*^^ ^° y^^^^ *^ superior force, and to surrender the city by 
treaty. Hereupon followed the entrance of the allies into 
Pans, and the establishment of a provisional government under the pre- 
sidentship of Talleyrand. This astute diplomatist, a master in every in- 
trigue and artifice, now devoted himself to the interests of the royal 
family, and attempted, by the employment of the principle of legitimacy, 
to exclude Napoleon, and to bring about the restoration of the s'ourbons. 

2. THE RESTORATION AND THE HUNDRED DATS. 

§ 599. In the meanwhile, Napoleon, with his Guard and his friends, 
the number of which diminished every day, was lingering in Fontain- 
bleau. He changed helplessly from one resolution to another, till, at 
length, the news of Marmont's defection decided him upon abdicating 
April 4. ^^^ ^^^^■^"'^ ^^ ^^^o^' of his son. But this conditional abdica" 

tion was not received by the allied powers; he could not 
continue the contest, for even his nearest friends, Berthier, Ney, Oudinot, 
and others, had deserted him, and turned towards the new sun. In this 
April 7. extremity. Napoleon signed the unconditional act of abdica- 

tion as dictated by the allies. He received the island of 
Elba as his property, an income of 2,000,000 francs, and the permission 
to retam 400 of his ftiithful guard around his person. His wife, Maria 
Louisa, obtained the duchy of Parma. On the 20th of April, Napoleon 
ordered the grenadiers of his guard to be drawn up in the castle-yard of 
Fontainbleau, and, with a broken heart, took an affecting leave of them, 
amidst the sobs of the veteran heroes. On the 4th of May, he landed 
at Elba. Shortly after, to the great joy of the people, who were weary 
May 30. ^^ ^^^'' ^^® ^^'^* Peace of Paris was concluded, by which 

France received Louis XVIIL as king, a new constitutional 
government, and the boundaries of 1792. The foreign armies left the 
French territories, and the Congress of Vienna was to have placed the 
new order of things in Europe upon a firm foundation. 

§ 600. It was a splendid assembly this Vienna Congress. Emperors 
and kings, princes and nobles, the most celebrated men of all countries, 
were there assembled, and rejoicing over their victory. The majesty 
and. civilization of all Europe there displayed themselves in their fullest 
lustre; and the magnificent festivals, the riotous feasts, splendid balls, 
and evening assemblies, had no end. But the establishment of the new 
system was no hght task ; and, in the midst of all this splendor and re- 
joicing, violent passions were in motion, which threatened to destroy the 
work of peace before its completion. The return of the legitimate royal 
families to their lost thrones, and the most complete destruction that was 



464 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

possible of the I'epublican constitutions, were the two principles on which 
all parties were soon agreed ; but when questions respecting the division 
of the conquered and vacated lands, and the indemnification of the allies, 
came to be discussed, envy, selfishness, avarice, and all impure motives 
were aroused. The court of Berlin demanded the union of Saxony with 
the Prussian kingdom, and Eussia entertained .the view of getting entire 
possession of Poland ; both demands met with vehement opposition ; the 
dispute seemed to threaten a renewal of hostilities, and the armies were 
placed ujion a war footing. These appearances, and the proceedings in 
France, where the constitution granted by Louis XVIII. afforded but 
little defence against the reaction, awakened new hopes in Napoleon. 
The Bourbons showed by their proceedings "that they had learned 
nothing, and forgotten nothing." The memory of the Revolution and 
of the empii'e was, as far as possible, destroyed. The tricolored national 
cockade was thrust aside by the white ; the old aristocracy treated the 
new nobility with insolence and contempt, and drove them from the 
neighborhood of the court, where the tone was given by the polite count 
of Artois and the gloomy duchess of Angouleme (daughter of Louis 
XVI.)j whose heart was filled with hatred and venom against the men 
of the Revolution. The guards were discharged, and their places sup- 
plied by well-paid Swiss; the officers of the grand army were dismissed 
upon half-pay; the Legion of Honor was rendered mean and contempti- 
ble by the distribution of innumerable crosses to the unworthy; the 
compact Avith the banished emperor himself was not adhered to ; the 
clergy and the emigrants, who met with particular favor in the palace, 
began to dream of a restoration of their lost estates, tithes, and feudal 
privileges ; great discontent took possession of the nation ; the wish for 
a change again became lively, particularly when nearly 100,000 French 
soldiers, some who had been prisoners of war, and others from foreign 
fortresses, returned to their country, and diffused their Bonapartist sen- 
timents over the whole land. 

§ GOl. When Napoleon heard of these errors of the Bourbons, when 
he learned that there was a Avish to restore their lands to the emigrants 
because " they kept the straight path," when he was instructed by 
Fouche, Davoust, Maret. the duchess of St. Leu, and others of his ad- 
herents, who kept up a constant correspondence with him, of the dispo- 
sition of the people, he resolved once more to try his fortune. He 
landed on the south coast of France with a few hundred 
" ' ' men ; he soon won all hearts to himself by some shrewdly 
planned and rapidly diffused proclamations. The tricolor was in a short 
time again predominant everywhere, the troops that were sent to oppose 
him deserted to him in crowds; the citizens of Grenoble threw open 
their gates when he approached their town, and Colonel La- 
bedoyere placed the garrison at his disposal. It was in vain 



THE EESTORATION AND THE HUNDRED DATS. 465 

that the count of Artois hasted to Lyons, and attempted to gain the 
soldiers by confidence. The shout of " Vive 1' Empereur ! " rang every- 
where in his ears ; and when even Ney, who had sworn to bring the 
usurper in chains to Paris, went over to his former companion in arms, 
the Bourbons, helpless and confounded, quitted for the second 
time the land of their home. Louis XVIII., with a few 
faithful adherents, took up his residence in Ghent, whilst Napoleon once 
more entered the Tuileries, and formed a new ministry from among his 
followers. Thus began the reign of the Hundred Days, and Europe was 
threatened with fresh convulsions. Clubs were again formed, and the 
songs of the Revolution were again heard. But Napoleon had not yet 
laid aside his dislike to popular movements ; he also had learned nothing 
and forgotten nothing. The imperial throne, with its splendor and its 
national nobility, was again to arise. This, however, was resisted by 
the people. The new constitution, which was SAVorn to at the 
festival of the Champ de Mai, did not satisfy their demands. 
§ 602. These events produced the greatest confusion in the Viennese 
Congress, and restored the unanimity which had been disturbed. Austria 
and Russia did not at first appear disinclined to open fresh negotiations 
with Napoleon, who promised to abide by the conditions of the Peace of 
Paris and never again to disturb the tranquillity of Europe, and to leave 
either him or his son in possession of the crown of France. But the 
activity of Talleyrand and the imprudence of Murat again gave the 
victory to the principles of legitimacy. Murat had at first joined the 
allies, and made war on the viceroy of Italy. But he soon felt that this 
was an unnatural proceeding ; such treachery to the common cause re- 
volted his honest military feelings. Napoleon's landing and triumphant 
course were the signal for his taking up arms. The emperor in vain 
warned him against over-hasty proceedings. Without waiting to see 
what course events would take, Murat declared war against Austria, and 
called the people of Italy to arms to defend the unity and independence 

of the beautiful land of the Apennines. The battle of To- 
May 23, 1815. , . . , . •, . , -, 

lentmo went agamst him ; his army melted away, and whdst 

he was flying in haste to the south of France, the Austrians marched 
into his capital and gave back his crown to its former possessor, Ferdi- 
nand. After the battle of Waterloo, Murat wandered for some time 
around the south coast of France, only carefully concealing himself from 
the pursuit of the Bourbons. At length he escaped to Corsica, and un- 
dertook from thence a voyage to Calabria, for the purpose of exciting 
the people to revolt against Ferdinand. But he and his few followers 
were easily overpowered, and Murat paid the penalty of his attempt with 
his life. On the 15th of October, Joachim Murat, who by his courage 
and good fortune had been raised from the son of an innkeeper to be the 
king of the most beautiful of lands, was shot at Pizzo. 



466 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

§ G03. Napoleon's fate was decided even earlier. The European 
powers set upwards of half a million of men in motion against the out- 
lawed usurper. Before they had all marched forth, Napoleon, after the 
opening of the Chambers of Paris, advanced, with the soldiers that flocked 
to him from all quarters, into the Netherlands, to make head against the 
armies of Wellington and Bliicher. The commencement of the cam- 
paign was favorable to the French. At Ligny, the Prussi- 
ans were forced back after the most desperate resistance ; 
whilst at Quatre Bras, Ney resisted Wellington's army, comj^osed of 
English, Dutch, Hanoverians, &c. Bliicher was wounded in the former 
place, and in the latter, the chivalrous duke William of Brunswick found 
his death. Even on the decisive day, the victory was long doubtful. It 
was not till the Prussians, at the critical moment, came to the assistance 
of the hardly-pressed army of Wellington, whilst marshal Grouchy, who 
had been despatched by Napoleon to follow BliJcher, kept aloof from the 
field, that the French, despite the heroic bravery of the veteran warriors, 
Avere totally defeated in the battle of Belle-Alliance or 
Waterloo. The struggle on the height of Mount St. Jean, 
from whence the French name the battle, was terrible ; and the words 
wliich were afterwards attributed to General Cambronne, " The guard 
dies, it never surrenders ! " were retained by the nation in honorable re- 
membrance ; whilst the disgrace which Bourmont incurred by his treach- 
ery, and Grouchy by his ambiguous conduct, could be obliterated by no 
defence. Napoleon, pale and confused, allowed himself to be led out of 
the battle by Soult, and hastened to Paris. The flight soon became gene- 
ral ; the whole of the artillery fell into the hands of the enemy ; only a 
fourth part of the brave army was able to escape. 

§ G04. The Chambers of Paris, in which Fouche was exhibiting a 
wretched display of intrigue and deceit, proposed to the emperor, on his 
return, that he should renounce the crown. After some resistance, the 
humbled potentate yielded to the proposal ; he laid down the govern- 
ment in favor of his son, Napoleon IL, and then fled to 
June 22. . . 

Rochefort, with the purpose of escaping to America, when he 

saw the victorious enemy a second time approaching the w^alls of Paris. 
As the English, however, held the harbor blockaded. Napoleon, trusting 
to the generosity of the British people, sought shelter in one of their 
ships (Bellerophon). But the statesmen who then guided the helm had 
no compassion for fallen greatness. Arrived at the coast of England, 
Napoleon received the terrible information that he must pass the remain- 
der of his life as a state prisoner on the island of St. Helena. All pro- 
testations were useless: on the 18th of October, he landed on the place 
of his banishment, in the midst of the Atlantic ocean. 

Here Napoleon lived, a chained Prometheus, separated from his friends 
in an unhealthy climate, and under the rigid guardianship of the un- 



THE RESTOKATION AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 467 

friendly governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. A few friends, among them General 
Bertrand and his family, Montholon, Las Casas, shared his banishment. 
Grief at his fall, want of his accustomed activity, and irritation at the 
unworthy treatment he received, broke his proud and strong spirit before 
its time. After six years of suffering, he found that quiet in the grave, 
to which during life he had been a stranger. He died on the 5th of May, 
1821. His ashes were afterwards conveyed to Paris (1842), and buried 
in the Hotel of Livalides. 

§ 605. After Napoleon's abdication, a provisional government Avas 
established under the direction of Fouche. The latter arranged with 
Wellington and Bliicher that no man was to be punished for his actions 
or opinions, and then surrendered the capital. A few days 
later, the Bourbons again entered the Tuileries, under the 
guard of foreign baj^onets. The people were quiet and indifferent. The 
armies were disbanded, the Chambers dissolved, and by a succession of 
proscriptions, a number of men, who had hitherto guided the fate of 
France and of her armies, were either deprived of their offices, thrust 
into banishment, or, as in the case of Ney and Labedoyere, condemned to 
death.* The allied monarchs again established their residence in Pai"is, 
and assisted the Bourbons in settling the new system. At length, when 
November the Restoration a2ipeared secure, the second Peace of Paris 
20, 1815. was arranged, by which France was confined to the bounda- 

ries of 1790, restored all the plundered treasures of art and science to 
their former owners, paid 700,000,000 francs for the expenses of war, 
and was obliged to support an allied army of 150,000 men in the frontier 
fortresses. These garrison troops remained for three years in the French 
fortresses. 

* Labedoyfere and Ney were condemned to death by the Court of Peers, and shot. 
The execution of the renowned marshal of the Moskwa, who, when he was shot, with 
military spirit gave the word of command himself, was looked npon as an infraction 
of the treaty arranged with Wellington, and brought great disgi-ace upon the com-t of 
Paris. Lavalette also, who, in his capacity of director of the post, had exerted himself 
for Napoleon's restoration, was condemned to death, but was delivered from prison 
by his faithful wife. Among the banished were to be found all the members of Na- 
poleon's family ; the marshals and statesmen who had joined him duiing the hundred 
days, as Soult, Maret, Thibaudeau, IMouton, &c. ; and finally, all the regicides, i. e. 
the members of the Convention who had voted for Louis XVI.'s death ; Fouche was 
one of these, and he was atcordingly obhged to relinquish the oiBce of minister of 
poUce, which he had at first been allowed by the Bourbons to retain, and to retire 
abroad. Camot, Sieyes, Cambac^res, and others did the same. Most of them resided in 
Brussels. 



468 THE LATEST PERIOD. 



E. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

FROil THE FORMATION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, TO THE 

PEACE OF 1815. 

Washington's Administration, [1789-1797.] § GOG. George 
Washington, having been unanimously reelected at the expiration of his 
first term of office, was President of the United States for eight years, — 
a period long enough to fix, in many respects, the policy of the govern- 
ment, and to determine the practical character of the new constitution. 
The country was doubly fortunate in securing his services for so long a 
period, and at this particular crisis in its afiairs. Others may have been 
equally patriotic and disinterested ; but no other person could have 
brought to the office an equal weight of character and influence, or so 
happy a combination of calmness of judgment, equanimity in good and ill 
fortune, impartiality towards individuals, and inflexibility of purpose. 
The friends and opponents of the Federal Constitution were already 
arrayed against each other as two political parties, styled respectively 
the Federalists and the Democrats, between whom the people were very 
equally divided, and who contended vehemently with each other for the 
control of affairs, each hoping to imprint its peculiar principles upon the 
early measures of the administration, and upon the organization of the 
government. The Federalists were reproached as being anti-republican 
and even monarchical in their notions and their measures ; and they, in 
return, charged their adversaries with hostility towards any stable form 
of government or any effective union of the States, with indifference as 
to the preservation of the public faith and credit, and with carrying their 
democratic principles so far as to undermine every species of authority 
and reduce the nation to anarchy. Washington's election to the presi- 
dency was not a party triumph ; in the opinion even of his opponents, 
he was ■svithout and above all party ties, — the only man in the Union 
who possessed the confidence of the whole people. He had no personal 
preferences or prejudices ; but politically, he was a strong Federalist, an 
avowed defender of every thing which tended to give unity and strength 
to the central government. He deplored the excesses of party spirit, 
and it was his constant endeavor to moderate or prevent them. Upon 
this principle, he formed his first cabinet, appointing Jefferson, the Demo- 
cratic leader. Secretary of State, and Hamilton, the ablest of the Fede- 
ralists, Secretary of the Treasury. Knox and Randolph, the Secretary 
of War and the Attornej'^-General, M'ere also opposed to each other in 
politics, and strongly contrasted in personal character. But under Wash- 
ington's firm, dignified, and impartial guidance, these men worked to- 
gether zealously and efficiently ; and through them, the President main- 



TUE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 469 

tained his influence with parties, and preserved the national and equally 
balanced character of his administration. 

§ 607. To establish a revenue for the maintenance of government, and to 
provide for the debts contracted during the Revolutionary war, were the 
first objects that claimed the attention of Congress. Hamilton's financial 
talents were of the highest order, and the plans which he proposed for 
the accomplishment of these ends, though vehemently contested, were 
finally approved and carried into effect with the happiest results. As 
the govei-nment for more than ten years had been bankrupt, the public 
securities, or evidences of its indebtedness, had passed from hand to 
hand at prices far below their nominal value ; and the Democi'ats row 
strenuously maintained that they should be redeemed at no higher rate 
than their present possessors had paid for them. But Hamilton declared 
that the public faith must be kept by paying the whole amount which 
the government had originally promised, and also by assuming the debts 
which the individual States had contracted in support of the common 
cause. The aggregate debt was a portion of the price which the whole 
nation had paid for its freedom ; and the burden of it, therefore, ought 
to be equally borne by the whole people. It was the dictate of sound 
policy, also, as well as of abstract justice, that all pecuniary obligations 
should be faithfully discharged ; for public credit would thus be main- 
tained for any future exigency, and the government would be strength- 
ened, as the great body of the public creditors, the wealthiest and most 
influential class in the community, would be directly intei'ested in its 
support. These views ultimately prevailed by a small majority, — a 
majority obtained in one case only by an agreement to transfer the seat 
of government from Washington to the banks of the Potomac, thus con- 
ciliating the favor of some members of Congress from the southern 
States. The whole amount of debt thus consolidated and funded was 
about eighty millions of dollars. At Hamilton's recommendation, also, a 
Bank of the United States was chartered, with a capital of ten millions, 
one-fifth of which was subscribed by government, while individuals, who 
contributed the remainder, were allowed to pay but one-fourth in cash, 
and the other three-fourths in public stocks. A revenue act was also 
passed, imposing duties on goods imported into the United States and on 
tonnage, due discrimination being made so as to encourage American 
manufactures and shipping. The efi^ect of these measures upon public 
confidence and the interests of commerce was almost magical. The 
large amount of public stocks thus created furnished capital and cur- 
rency, nearly as available as coin, and far more secure than paper money. 
The funding system afforded a guaranty of the stability of the Union, 
and encouraged merchants to undertake the large enterprises, an opening 
for which was credited by the country's release from the shackles of colo- 
nial dependence. A trade sprang up with India, China, and the north- 

40 



470 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

west coast of the American continent ; and the flag of the new nation 
was soon displayed in every sea, in friendly competition with that of the 
great naval power, which threatened, a few years before, almost to mono- 
polize the commerce of the earth. The population continuing to multi- 
ply and expand, new States were successively formed and admitted into 
the Union, and the strength of the chain seemed to increase with every 
addition to the number of its links. Thus, a long pending controversy 
between New York, New Hampshire, and the " Green Mountain Boys," 
respecting the ownership of the territory between the Connecticut river 
and Lake Champlain, was at length adjusted by the creation of the new 
State of Vermont : and soon afterwards, Kentucky was ad- 
mitted into the Union, the first State formed in the great 
valley of the Mississippi. 

§ 608. The progress of the settlements at the west, however, was much 
retarded by hostilities with the Indian tribes on the banks of the Ohio, the 
Miami, and the Wabash. These claimed the Ohio river as the boundary 
of their territory, being encouraged to put forward this claim, and to 
support it by making war upon the Americans, by the British authorities 
in Canada and at those military posts on the Lakes and the upper tribu- 
taries of the Mississippi, which were still retained as a security for the 
due performance of certain articles in the treaty of peace. The United 
States had too hastily disarmed themselves at the close of the Revolution- 
ary struggle ; weary of the war, and unable to pay the troops, the whole 
army, with an insignificant exception, had been disbanded. The only 
force, therefore, which could now be sent against the savages, was com- 
posed almost entirely of militia, who could not be relied upon for the 
great hazards and exposures of a conflict with the Indians in their forest 
home. Gen. Harmer was first sent against them, with 1,100 men; but 
several of his detachments were surprised and defeated, and he returned 
October, in disgrace, before he had accomplished any thing. Further 

1T90. attempts to settle the difiiculties by negotiation having failed, 

St. Clair was next sent, with an army of 2,000 men, into the Indian 
country ; but when he had reached the banks of the Wabash, the savages 
November 4 ^-ttacked his camp by surprise in the grey of the morning, 
1791. and after some hard fighting, in which about half of the 

army were killed or wounded, the others were compelled to make a pre- 
cipitate flight. Gen. Wayne, an ofiicer of much experience and reputa- 
tion, was then placed in this difficult command, and great exertions were 
made to raise an adequate force to support him. One year he spent in 
unavaiiiBg negotiations for peace, limiting his military operations mean- 
while to the protection of the frontiers. In August, 1794, he advanced, 
at the head of more than 3,000 men, totally defeated the Indians in one 
hard-fought engagement, ravaged their principal settlements, destroyed 
their stores, and left a fort well garrisoned in the heart of their country. 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 471 

This decisive blow effectually cowed the native tribes, who soon con- 
sented to a peace, the faithful obsei'vance of which for many years 
left no check to the marvellously rapid growth of the settlements at the 
west. 

§ C)09. Another difficulty which the government had to contend with was 
the disaffection created by the excise taxes that had been imposed to eke 
out the revenue obtained from duties on imported goods. The tax on 
distilled spirits, especially, bore hard upon the western counties of Penn- 
sylvania, where the people, from the imperfect means of transportation, 
could not obtain a market for their grain except by distilling it into whis- 
key ; and as they were rude and turbulent backwoodsmen, little accus- 
tomed to the restraints of government and civilized life, they could not 
understand the necessity of paying a heavy excise on the most profitable 
article which they prepared for sale. They set the law at defiance, at- 
tacked the revenue officers, drove back the few soldiers w^ho were sent 
to defend them, and entered into extensive combinations to resist the 
government. A proclamation of the President, calling on the magistrates 
to execute the laws, had no effect ; and it was computed that there were 
over 7,000 insurgents prepared to carry out their . purposes by force of 
arms. Washington then resolved to vindicate the majesty of the laws 
by emploj'ing a force large enough to prevent any show of resistance. 
The militia of four of the States was called out, to the number of 15,000 

men, and Gen. Lee, of Viro-inia, marched at their head into 
October, 1794. , ,. ^ , . -, Z .-, -, , . 

the disanected counties, and eiiectually put down the msur- 

rection without bloodshed. Some leaders of the movement were tried 
and convicted of treason ; but they were all pardoned, and this lenity 
won back the affections of those who had gone astray, while the vigor 
and promptitude that had been shown made a great addition to the 
strength of the government. 

§ 610. Mr. Jay, who had been appointed minister to England for the 
purpose, succeeded at last in forming a treaty with that power, which ad- 
justed many subjects of controversy between the two nations, though it left 
others still pending. The treaty of peace of 1783 had been very imper- 
fectly observed on both sides. Debts to British subjects, contracted be- 
fore the war, could not be recovered until the national judiciary had been 
established imder the Federal Constitution, and many of them remained 
still undischarged, and the Loyalists could not recover their confiscated 
estates ; on the other hand, the British troops, when they evacuated the 
country, had carried off many slaves, for whom compensation was de- 
manded, and the military posts on the northwestern frontier had not been 
delivered up. The possession of these forts enabled the British to con- 
trol the trade with the Indians, and even, as was supposed, to incite them 
to hostilities against the United States. The breaking out of the war 
between revolutionary France and England opened the immense profits 



472 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

of a neutral trade to the Americans, but also exposed them to the many 
annoyances and vexations that resulted from the exercise of belligerent 
rights against neutrals. American seamen, not being easily distinguish- 
able from Englishmen, were often impressed to serve on British men-of- 
war, and American ships, were overhauled to search for contraband goods. 
Naval stores, also, were asserted by the English to be contraband of war, 
though in other treaties they were regarded as free goods. Jay's treaty 
was the best that could be obtained at the time, though it had many ac- 
knowledged deficiencies ; but as it removed many subjects of dispute, and 
averted a renewal of the war between the two countries, which seemed 

to be imminent if no treaty were framed, the Senate approv- 
Au^. 14, 1795. , . , , •' ^ . .^ T , , V. • 

ed it by a very close vote, and it was ratified by the r^resi- 

d^nt. A storm of popular indignation immediately burst forth, in which 
were united all the old feeling of hostility towards England and the ill 
will that had been nursed by the recent controversies. The discussion 
of the subject agitated the whole country during the autumn, and it soon 
appeared, when Congress came together in the winter, that a large num- 
ber, if not a majority, of the Representatives were fiercely opposed to 
the execution of the treaty. But the President firmly maintained his 
ground, against the insane 'clamor out of doors and the fierce opposition 
in Congress ; and after a vehement debate, the appropriations that were 
needed to carry out the compact were made by a majority of two, and 
the treaty went into effect. Its happy results soon jjroved that "Wash- 
ington's course had been as enlightened and far-sighted, as it unquestion- 
ably was dignified and independent. 

§ Gil. The troubles growing out of the French Revolution were not con- 
fined to the European side of the Atlantic. The agitation reached the United 
States also, and, for a time, the republican institutions of America seemed 
to reel under that shock which had prostrated so many monarchies in 
the Old World. New bitterness and violence were added to the former 
dissension between the two great parties into which the people v^^ere 
divided ; the Democrats generally espoused the cause of France, with a 
pardonable preference for what seemed to be the cause of freedom and 
enlightenment against the old powers of despotism and darkness ; while 
the Federalists, deploring the excesses into which the revolutionists of 
France had plunged, and foreseeing the anarchy and final triumph of mili- 
tary usurpation which would be their inevitable result, — animated also 
by a lingering attachment for the land of their forefathers, their language, 
and their foith, — by a love which ten years of conflict had failed to ex- 
tinguish, and which a rapid extension of the commercial ties between the 
two countries was now kindling anew, — generally looked with favor and 
hope towards England. Unfortunately, belligerent France and England. 
in the fury of their contest with each other, both disregarded, or rather 
designedly trampled upon, the neutral rights of America. There was, 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 473 

perhaps, legitimate cause of war against both countries ; but the Demo- 
crats clamored for war against England, and were disposed to overlook 
or excuse all slights and injuries received from her opponent ; while the 
Federalists were hostile to France, and palliated every wrong which 
Great Britain could commit. Again the firmness, moderation, and wis- 
dom of Washington were the means of saving the people from the disas- 
ters and sufferings of another war, and from the effects of their own 
furious party conflicts and ill regulated passions. He saw no causes of 
dispute, which had yet arisen, that could not be removed or palliated by 
patience and amicable negotiation ; he saw, also, that the country abso- 
lutely needed repose and an opportunity to recruit her energies, before 
she could engage in another struggle with one of the great powers of 
Europe, with any hope of success, or even of safety. Jay's treaty had 
averted for a time the hazard of war with England ; and "Washington 

had also issued a memorable proclamation of Neutrality, ad- 
April, 1703. . , . , , n , . -, , , . 

monishmg the people oi their duty to ooserve the strictest 

impartiality between the two belligerent powers, and to abstain from 
every act which could justly give umbrage to either. This naturally 
gave great offence to the party, which, remembering the obligations of 
America to France for aid bounteously given in the hour of her necessity, 
and sympathizing with those who assumed to defend the rights of the 
people everywhere against the oppression of their hereditary rulers, was 
eager to defend by arms the cause of the French Revolution. They 
were insanely desirous of plunging into the vortex of European politics 
and a foreign war. The French republican government, also, adopted 
an insolent and overbearing tone in its diplomacy, which added fuel to 
the flame of excitement in the United States. Citizen Genet, the French 
envoy to America, was received with a popular ovation in Charleston 
and other places, which so inflamed his ardent temper and republican 
zeal, that he authorized privateers to be fitted out to cruise against the 
enemies of France, and when checked in his outrageous conduct, threat- 
ened to appeal from the government to the people. But this was going 
too far ; even his friends resented this insult to their great President, 
and Washington demanded and obtained his recall. The conduct of his 
successor, M. Fauchet, though more moderate, was still offensive ; and 
the administration had a difficult task in preventing him from stirring up 
the people to the commission of acts which would afford England a just 
pretext for hostilities. But the vast influence and reputation of the 
President, and the evident interest which the country had in the pre- 
servation of peace, moderated the excitement, and the aggressive conduct 
of the French, in making many captures of American vessels on very 
slight pretexts, soon weaned the nation from its excessive admiration for 
their principles. The government had the wisdom and good fortune also, 

40* 



474 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

after the diiBculties with Spain had risen to an alarming height, to form 
a treaty with that power, Avliich not only secured the continu- 
ance of peace, but gave to the United States the free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, and the privilege of depositing cargoes at New 
Orleans. 

§ 612. When the close of the second period of his administration was at 
hand, "Washington determined to seek that repose in private life of which he 
had long been desirous. He prepared and published a Farewell Address 
to his countrymen, in which he announced to them this resolution, and 
added wise and aifectionate advice respecting their future course, and the 
evils with which the young republic was menaced. Especially he warned 
them against foreign influence and interference in the controversies of 
European nations ; against all measures which tended to a separation of 
the Union, or to array parties against each other by geographical discri- 
minations ; against the excesses of party spirit, and the fii'st symptoms of 
disregard for the authority of the laws. " The very idea of the power 
and right of the people to establish government, presupposes the duty of 
every individual to obey the established government." This Address 
was received and read throughout the Union with sentiments approaching 
to veneration, and has probably contributed more than any state paper 
that was ever framed to guide the conduct and control the destiny of a 
whole people. Washington retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, where 
he spent the short remaining period of his life in arranging his j^apers 
and cultivating an extensive farm. He died on the 14th of December, 
1799, leaving a reputation unequalled in the world's history as a patriot 
leader and statesman, " first in war, first in peace, and first in tlie hearts 
of his countrymen." 

Adams's Administration, [1797-1801.] § 613. John Adams, the can- 
didate of the Federal party, was elected President for the third term, by 
a majority of only two votes over Thomas Jefferson, Avho was supported 
by the Democrats. His administration was a turbulent and rather un- 
fortunate one. In spite of his eminent services during the Revolutionary 
period, and his acknowledged abilities and integrity, he did not enjoy so 
much consideration vv'ith his own party as Hamilton, who was an admirable 
political leader ; and his opponents wrongly attributed to him arbitraiy 
and monarchical notions of government. His own views of jjolicy were 
generally sound ; but his quick, vehement, and self-willed disposition sel- 
dom allowed him to seek or follow the counsels of others, so that he often 
suffered more in the estimation of his friends than in that of his oppo- 
nents. Dissension soon appeared in the ranks of the Federalists, and 
they lost ground with the people, while the other party every day 
acquired fresh strength. The relations of the country with France still 
formed the chief difficulty of the government, and the principal subject of 
dispute between the two pai'ties. The Directory wei-e now in power at 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 475 

Paris, and their feeble, but aggressive and rapacious, policy was nowhere 
more signally manifested than in their conduct towards America. They 
refused to receive Thomas Pinckney, who had been accredited to them as 
minister by Washington, and even ordered him to quit the territory of 
the republic ; and this insult was given at the very time when their pri- 
vateers were capturing scores of American vessels, uf)on pretexts so slight, 
that, in several cases, they were compelled to admit that they owed repa- 
ration for the wrong. Congress manifested a proper spirit, and imme- 
diately adopted measures to vindicate the national honor. Laws were 
passed to hold 80,000 militia in readiness, to fortify the harbors, to fit 
out vessels of war, and to put the country generally in a state of defence. 
Still, to manifest the sincerity of their desire for peace, Pinckney, Mar- 
shall, and Gerry, (the last named being a Democrat, and therefore re- 
garded as friendly to France,) were sent out as joint envoys to the 
French Republic, to seek for a reconciliation. On their arrival at Paris, 
a reception was denied them ; but it was intimated to them unofficially, 
that, on the payment of a heavy bribe to the individual members of the 
Directory, and the loan of a considerable sum to the republic, a negotia- 
tion might be opened. This proposal excited general disgust and indig- 
nation in America. " Millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute," 
Avas the almost universal cry ; and vigorous preparations were instantly 
made for war, to which the Democratic party oifered hardly any opposi- 
tion. Large additional grants were made for the increase of the navy, 
the purchase of arms and ammunition, and the fortification of the harbors ; 
and the President was authorized to raise, when necessary, an army of 
10,000 men, besides accepting the services of volsnteers. There was a 
great revulsion of opinion throughout the country, which contributed 
largely to postpone the decline and fall of the Federalist party. Ships 
of war were authorized to capture any armed vessels which had com- 
mitted depredations on American commerce, or which were found cruis- 
ing near the coast with the apparent purpose of committing such acts. 
There were many French emigrants in the country, and some of these 
were suspected of acting as government emissaries or spies; the Presi- 
dent was therefore authorized to send out of the country any foreigner 
whose residence in it he might consider to be dangerous. Another act 
was passed, to define more precisely the crime of treason, and to define 
and punish that of sedition, which subjected to fine and imprisonment any 
person who, by writing, printing, or speaking, should attempt to justify 
the hostile conduct of the French, or to defame or weaken the govern- 
ment or laws of the United States. These two laws, known as the Alien 
and the Sedition Acts, passed while the people were in a feverish state 
from the vehemence of party controversy, and only to be justified by the 
magnitude of the war then deemed to be imminent, were afterwards the 
objects of bitter reproach, and contributed largely to the downfall of the 
Federalists. 



476 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

§ 614. The authority given to act against French ai'med vessels, now 
extended to permission to capture them under any circumstances, did not 
long remain unexercised. The frigate Constellation, Captain Truxton, 
captured the French frigate, L' Insurgente, of superior force, after an 
hour's action. Truxton afterwards engaged a still heavier French frigate, 
La Vengeance, and nearly disabled her, though she succeeded in escaping 
in the night. Some other French cruisers were taken, and, under the 
commissions granted to private armed vessels, over fifty French privateers 
were captured and brought into port, and many American merchantmen 
were re-captured. Still, war was not formally declared, and the probability 
of its occurrence was now much lessened by a sudden and eccentric act on 
the part of President Adams, who, contrary to the Avishes of his party, 
and without even consulting the members of his cabinet, surprised every- 
body by nominating another minister to France, to make another attempt 
at negotiation. This act occasioned an irreparable breach in the Federal 
party. Hamilton, Pickering, and other leaders of it made hardly any 
secret of their aversion to the President. Owing to the reverses in war 
which the French had lately experienced, and to a consequent change in 
the Directory, assurances were sent that the new mission from the United 
States would be kindly received. In fact, on their arrival in France, the 
ministers found that a revolution had taken place, and that Bonajjarte 
was now at the head of affairs, who, not wishing to have another enemy 
on his hands, was eager to negotiate; Difficulties obstructed the conclu- 
sion of a perfect treaty ; but a convention was agreed upon, by which all 
captured property not already condemned was to be restored, the indem- 
nities mutually claimed were referred to future negotiations, and all pre- 
sent hazard of war was averted. 

§ 615. The dissensions of the Federalists had already foreshadowed the 
defeat of their party at the approaching presidential election. Adams and 
Pinckney, their candidates, received but sixty-five electoral votes, while 
seventy-three were cast for Jefferson and Burr, the favorites of the Demo- 
cratic party. As these two had an equal number, it devolved upon the 
House of Representatives, as the Constitution then stood, to decide which 
of them should be President, and which, Vice-President. The Federal- 
ists, who then had the control of the House, formed the strange and fac- 
tious project of electing Burr instead of Jefferson to the higher olfice, in 
order to spoil tile victory of their opponents, and because they entertained 
a faint hope that the former, owing his unexpected elevation to them, 
might adopt a policy more favorable to the views of their party. The 
scheme was indefensible either on moral or political grounds, and most 
of the people rejoiced when it was frustrated. After remaining in session 
seven days, and balloting thirty-six times, some of the Federalists gave 
way, and Jefferson was chosen. The office of Vice-President then de- 
volved of right upon Burr. To prevent the I'epetition of so discreditable 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA. 477 

a so^ne, an amendment of the Constitution was soon effected, which re- 
quired each elector to vote separately for a President and a Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

Jefferson's Administration. [1801-1809.] §616. The country- 
was in a very prosperous state when Jefferson's party came into power. 
The serious difficulties that obstructed the formation of the government 
had all been removed ; the finances and the several departments of the 
government had been fully organized, and the system was in complete 
and successful operation. The responsibility of devising the requisite 
measures for these ends had fallen upon the Federalists, the odium which 
many of them had occasioned had been spent, and the Democrats now 
entered upon the enjoyment of their predecessors' labors. The revenue, 
commerce, and population of the country had increased with unexampled 
rapidity. The census of 1801 showed that the jDopulation amounted to 
5,300,000, being an increase of nearly a million and a half in ten years. 
Within the same period, the exports had risen from nineteen to ninety 
millions, the tonnage had doubled, and the revenue was increased from 
four to twelve millions. At the same time, also, there was a lull in the 
storm of European warfare. The peace of Luneville was concluded 
early in 1801, that of Amiens followed a year afterwards, and hostilities 
were not recommenced till May, 1803. Thus, all the perplexing and 
dangerous controversies respecting impressment and neutral rights were 
temporarily put at rest, and the United States reaped the full benefits of 
a prosperous and uninterrupted commerce. Even the prospect of a re- 
newal of hostilities operated in one respect to the advantage of the Ame- 
ricans. Louisiana had recently been transferred from Spain to France ; 
and as Bonaparte foresaw that he could not defend so distant a possession 
against the naval power of England, he listened favorably to a proposal 
for selling the territory to the United States, who were very anxious to 
obtain it, as it would secure to them the uninterrupted navigation of the 
Mississippi. A treaty was concluded in April, 1803, which made over 
Louisiana to the United States upon the payment of fifteen millions of 
dollars, one-fourth of this sum being retained to meet the claims for the 
French spoliations of American commerce. Congress had no power ex- 
pressly granted in the Constitution to purchase additional territory; and 
as the Democratic party had always maintained that all powers not spe- 
cifically enumerated were reserved to the States, it was a little awkward 
lor Jefferson to complete this contract. But as no one doubted the great 
utility of this vast accession of territory, or that it had been obtained on 
reasonable terms, he swallowed his scruples, and his adherents did the 
same. 

§ 617. The depredations of the Barbary powers upon the commerce of 
the LTnited States in the Mediterranean, gave rise, in 1801, to a war with 
Tripoli. Peace had hitherto been purchased with sevei'al of these pira- 



478 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

tical states by the payment of a heavy annual tribute ; but their demands 
having become inordinate, a considerable naval force, commanded at first 
by Morris, and afterwards by Preble, was sent out to blockade Tripoli, 
and to act as occasion might require against the other Barbary powers. 
Several naval actions took place, in which the officers and crews dis- 
played great gallantry, and which caused "the American flag to be highly 
respected in the Mediterranean ; while the blockade kept the piratical 
cruisers in port, and thus protected the commercial shipping. But the 
Tripolitans were at length brought to terms through a very hazardous 
and romantic enterprise, undertaken by a gallant American adventurer, 
named Eaton. The rightful bashaw of Tripoli had been deprived of his 
government, and exiled, by a younger brother, some years before, Eaton 
entered into a compact with him to reconquer his dominions, invading 
them from the side of Egypt. A few hundred men were collected for 
this purpose, only one-fourth of them being Christians, and of these but 
nine were Americans. This insignificant and motley troop crossed the 
desert, suffering frightful hardships by the way, captured the 

April, 1805. . rr\ • T n -r\ • • t • 

important iripolitan port or Uerne, mamtamed it against an 
attack by a vastly larger force of the enemy, and so frightened the reign- 
ing bashaw, that he hastily concluded a peace, conceding all the demands 
of the Americans. A great, indirect advantage obtained from these 
operations in the Mediterranean was, that they prevented the American 
vessels of war from going to decay, or being sold, by the ill-judged eco- 
nomy of Jefferson's administration. The party in power were hostile to 
the existence of a navy, partly because they wished to diminish the ex- 
penditures of the national government, and partly because tliey were 
averse or indiffei'ent to the growth and prosperity of the foreign com- 
mercial interest of the country, and sought to develope only the agri- 
culture and home trade of the States. Jefferson wished to limit the 
defensive efibrts of the country to some very feeble and absurd attempts 
to protect the coasts and harbors by gun-boats, which could act only in 
shallow waters, the idea being probably borrowed from Bonaparte's 
curious maritime preparations at Boulogne. If merchants asked that their 
ships might be protected, they were told to keep their ships at home. 
Had not the insults and depredations of the Barbary pirates roused the 
national spirit so much that it became necessary to make some effort to 
punish them, it is probable that, before the close of Jefferson's adminis- 
tration, the United States would not have had a single ship of war afloat. 
§ G18. The renewal of the war in Europe, the constantly increasing 
aggressions of the belligerent powers upon neutral commerce, and tlie dif- 
ferent schemes proposed by the two rival parties in the country to meet and 
repel these aggressions, renewed the vehemence of party controversy 
during the second term of Jefferson's administration, and gave a serious 
check to the commercial prosperity of the United States. The Demo- 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 479 

crats retained their old feelings of hostility towards Great Britain, and 
their predilection for France, thongh the latter country, under the impe- 
rial sway of Napoleon, was now, in truth, govei'ned by despotic power. 
The strength of the Federal party lay in the commercial States, cities, 
and towns ; and the intimate relations of an extensive foreign trade dis- 
posed them to resent but slightly the domineering and aggressive policy 
of England, while they looked with horror upon the conduct of the em- 
peror of the French. But if war should break out with either of the 
rival powers, it was very certain, from the administi'ation policy of break- 
ing up the navy, and limiting all efforts to coast and harbor defence, that 
American commerce would be swept from the ocean. The Federalists, 
therefore, were bent upon preserving peace at all hazards ; the Demo- 
crats, who depended chiefly upon agriculture, manufactures, and the 
home trade, who saw no risk that the country would be invaded, and 
who, after the acquisition of Louisiana, were eager to gain possession of 
Canada also, by conquest, believing that the English had too much to do 
in Europe to be able to defend so distant a colony, were clamorous for 
war. In these opposite feelings and desires, we find a key to the party 
controversies and the domestic and foreign policy of the United States 
down to the general pacification in 1815. 

§ G19. In 1806, Munroe and Pinckney succeeded in negotiating a treaty 
with the English ministry, which, like Jay's in 1794, though it left many 
subjects of disjiute undetermined, still adjusted the most pressing contro- 
versies, opened the trade between the United States and the European 
possessions of Great Britain on a footing of entire reciprocity, and 
afforded a tolerable assurance that peace might be maintained for many 
years. This treaty President Jefferson rejected, without even con- 
sulting the Senate, because it did not directly, prohibit the impress- 
ment of seamen from American vessels by the British cruisers, though 
there was a tacit understanding on the subject, which would have led to 
the gradual abandonment of the practice. Events soon showed that the 
rejection of this treaty was an act pregnant with a long series of impor- 
tant and disastrous consequences. France and England, endeavoring to 
retaliate upon each other, published a succession of decrees, the combined 
effect of which was almost to annihilate neutral commerce, and to subject 
every American vessel engaged in foreign trade to capture and confisca- 
tion by one or the other party. To comply with the regulations made 
by one of the belligerents, was to afford grounds for seizure by the other. 
November, The Berlin decree, published by Napoleon, declared the 
1S06. British islands in a state of blockade, and subjected to cap- 

ture every neutral vessel that attempted to trade with them ; this w'as 
a retaliatory act, because England had blockaded several Continental 
November, ports which she had not invested by her ships of war. Great 
1807. Britain now proceeded to decree, that neutrals should not 



480 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

trade with France or her allies till they had paid her a tribute. The 
December, French emperor retorted b)^ a decree, issued at Milan, sub- 
1807. j«cting every vessel to confiscation which should pay this 

tribute, or submit to be visited by a British cruiser. The United States 
December, then engaged in this game of prohibitions, by passing the 
1807. noted Embargo Act, which closed the American ports to all 

foreign trade whatever, either by native or foreign vessels ; even vessels 
engaged in the coasting trade were required to give heavy bonds that 
they would reland their cargo within the limits of the United States. 
This was punishing one's self a great deal for the sake of punishing an 
opponent a very little. America renounced the whole of her own foreign 
trade, for the sake of depriving foreign nations, France and England par- 
ticularly, of a portion of theirs. But as a great effect had been produced, 
during the contest which preceded the Revolutionary war, by the Non- 
Importation agreements, Congress had now a vague impression that 
Great Britain might quickly be brought to terms by a refusal to buy 
her manufactures, or to sell American produce. This impression was 
totally unfounded ; the feelings of the people not being enlisted in sup- 
port of the Embargo, a considerable illicit traflic was kept up, which alle- 
viated the effect of the measure upon England, though the commercial 
interest of the United States suffered a ruinous depression. Our own 
unemployed shipping rotted at the wharves, while enormous prices were 
paid for British goods to smugglers. The pressure upon the country 
was too great ; in New England, even the Democratic party opposed the 
Febraarj^ law. After it had been in force little over a year, the Em- 
1809. bargo was repealed, and a Non-Intercourse Act was substi- 

tuted for it, prohibiting all trade with Great Britain and France, and 
their dependencies, up to the end of the next session of Congress. 

Madison's Administration, (1809 - 1817.) § 620. While the public 
mind was agitated by these subjects, the end of Jefferson's second term of 
office approached, and James Madison, the Democratic candidate, was 
elected his successor, by 122 out of 176 electoral votes. This event did 
not materially affect the policy of the country, as the new President 
generally followed the steps of his predecessor, though he was somewhat 
more moderate in his political opinions, and if he had not been pushed on 
by the excited feelings of the younger members of his party, he would 
probably have averted or postponed a war. As it was, however, the 
relations between Great Britain and the United States every day assumed 
a more hostile aspect, and it was evident that peace could not long be 
maintained between them if the war in Europe should not 
^^^ ' ' cease. A negotiation with Erskine, the British minister at 
Washington, produced an arrangement of the more pressing subjects of 
controversy ; but it soon appeared that Erskine had exceeded his instruc- 
tions. The English ministry disavowed bis act, and the dispute remained 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 481 

in a worse condition than ever. The American frigate Chesapeake, two 
years before, had been attacked and captured by the Leopard, a British 
ship of superior force, under Admiral Berkley's orders, because her cap- 
tain refused to surrender some seamen who were alleged to be deserters 
from the British navy ; and though the frigate was returned, and Berk- 
ley's orders were disavowed, the terms of reparation for the injury and 
insult could not be agreed upon, and the affair impeded all subsequent 
negotiations. It was the main cause of the rejection of Erskine's arrange- 
ment. 

§ 621. The Non-Intercourse Act expired in May, 1810, when an offer 
was made that, if either England or France would revoke its edicts against 
neutral commerce, the act should be renewed and enforced against the 
other belligerent, till its edicts also were revoked. France had recently 
given additional provocation, by a decree issued at Rambouillet, confis- 
cating all American vessels and their cargoes then found in ports under 
the control of the French, and directing that, if any should enter a French 
harbor in future, it should also be seized and sold. Under this decree, 
American property valued at eight millions of dollars fell into the hands 
of the French. But Napoleon now took a conciliatory step ; he assured 
the American minister at Paris that the Berlin and Milan decrees were 
revoked, though the revocation was not to take effect till the first of 
November next. Relying on this assurance, Mi*. Madison, 
early in November, issued a proclamation restoring the free- 
dom of commerce with France, and prohibiting all intercourse with Great 
Britain. The English ministry refused to rescind their Orders in Council, 
under the pretext that they had no official evidence that the French em- 
peror had kept his promise to rescind the Berlin and Milan decrees. The 
Orders were enforced more rigorously than ever, English cruisers being 
stationed along the American coast, which boarded and searched all 
American merchantmen, impressed many of their seamen, and often con- 
fiscated both vessel and cargo, if the former was bound to a French 
port. One of these cruisers, the Little Belt, of 18 guns, fell in witli the 

American frigate President, and an action commenced be- 
May 16, ISll. , ° , .,,.,, , ^ , ^ 

tween them, both parties allegmg that the other fired first. 

The British vessel was soon reduced almost to a wreck, when her oppo- 
nent ceased firing, and she was allowed to pursue her voyage. This 
affair was passed over on both sides, as an unfortunate mistake, and terms 
of reparation were at length offered for the attack on the Chesapeake, 
which were accepted. 

§ 622. In the autumn of 1811, the Indian tribes round the Upper Lakes 
showed a hostile disposition, and Governor Harrison was sent agrainst 
them, with 800 men, to make a treaty, if possible, otherwise to strike a 
blow which should prevent hostilities in future. When he arrived near 
Tippecanoe, their principal town, he was met by a deputation of the 

41 



482 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

savages, who said that they desired peace, and agreed to return for an 
amicable conference the next day. The troops therefore encamped where 

they were, but took strict precautions against an attack by 
November 7. '' . ' ^^ ^ -, -,. i ^ • , ^ -, 

surprise. It was well that they did so ; lor just belore day- 
break, the Indians in considerable numbers made a furious assault upon 
them, and were repulsed with difficulty, after an hour's fighting. Their 
town was then burned, and Harrison, being encumbered by his wounded 
men, retreated to Vincennes. The savages caused greater alarm at this 
time, as it was believed that the British traders and agents from Canada 
held secret intercourse with them, and urged them to hostilities. 

§ 623. As the impressments and captures by the English cruisers con- 
tinued and even increased in number. Congress was called together early in 
November, and, at the recommendation of the President, they made active 
preparations for war. It was hoped that Great Britain, thus seeing that 
America was in earnest, would be unwilling to increase the number of 
her enemies, and would recede from her imperious and aggressive posi- 
tion. This hope was fallacious; the English ministry was obstinate, their 
majority in Parliament was subservient, and the spirit of the nation was 
high. After waging a stubborn war for many years, at least on equal 
terms, with the great subverter of monarchies and conqueror of half of 
Europe, they were not to be driven from their position by the menace of 
hostilities from a young and feeble nation on the other side of the Atlan- 
tic, Congress, after spending the winter and spring in warm debates, 
and in passing bills for augmenting the army and navy, received a secret 

messajre from the President on the 1st of June. It was con- 

sidered in secret session by both Houses, and on the 18 th of 
June, the doors were thrown open, and it was announced that the United 
States had declared war against Great Britain. 

§ G24. Though it had been voted to raise an army of 35,000 men, the 
United States had but 10,000 men under arms when the contest began, and 
with these it was resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada. The coast 
was not fortified, and the navy consisted only of three or four frigates and 
a few sloops of war ; but the chief reliance was placed upon privateers, as 
a means of annoying the enemy. This expectation was justified by the 
event ; during the tAvo years and a half that the war continued, over 1,500 
British merchantmen were captured by American privateers. The pub- 
lic vessels of war, also, slowly increased in number by a few frigates and 
smaller ships, though detained in port much of the time by a large block- 
ading force, in a few cruises and encounters at sea were very successful, 
and acquired just fame by destroying the common belief of British in- 
vincibility on the ocean. The American navy fought itself into popularity 
during this war, and has ever since been regarded with peculiar afi'ection 
and pride by the people. But the attempt to conquer Canada led only 
to a series of petty and inglorious conflicts on the frontier, not honorable 



THE UXITED STATES OF AMERICA. 483 

to either party, leading to no important results, and the details of -which 
are alfhost beneath the notice of history. The British Orders in Council 
were revoked June 23d, before the news of the American declaration of 
war arrived in England ; but though an attempt was then made to nego- 
tiate, hostilities were finally allowed to continue on the ground of impress- 
ment alone. Never was a more meaningless contest ; after fighting two 
years and a half, a treaty of peace was made, leaving this question about 
impressment precisely where it was before. 

§ 625. General Hull, who commanded the northwestern army at De- 
troit, marched a few miles into Canada, with about 1,800 men, 

June 12, 1S12. 1 , ., . r- ^r ,-. -r, 1 /. 

and laid siege to a petty fort at Maiden, l^ut beiore the 
August 8. place surrendered, he was obliged to recross the river, and 
take post at Detroit, where his army was soon invested by a superior 
force of Canadian militia and Indians. The British had 
° " ' hardly opened their fire, before Hull offered to capitulate, 
and surrendered to them his whole force, thus leaving the Territory of 
Michigan open to them and the Indians. The absolute want of supplies, 
the consequent inability to stand a siege, and the distance from all means 
of succor, were the reasons alleged for this mortifying step. Another 
American army had been collected on the Niagara River, commanded 
by Van Rensselaer, who sent over a detachment of about 1.000 men, to 
attack the British village of Queenstown. They eflFected a 
landing, and had some success at first ; but the militia refused 
to pass over to their aid, for the constitutional reason that they could be 
called out only to repel an invasion, not to invade another country. 
Thus deserted, the party who had crossed the river, after some sharp 
fighting, were compelled to surrender, the total loss to the Americans 
being about 1,000 men. Another attempt was made on this frontier, 
about six weeks afterwards, by General Smythe, which proved so 
ludicrous a failure that the contriver of it was obliged to 
resign his command, and became an object of general ridicule. 
The third army, the most numerous and best appointed of all, commanded 
by General Dearborn, on the frontier near lake Champlain, attempted 
little and accomplished nothing. The British and Americans vied^with 
each other, during this season, in their efforts to construct a naval force 
which might obtain the command of the tAvo Lakes, Erie and Ontario ; 
but no action of importance took place between them till the next year. 
§ 626. To make up for these disasters and failures on land, the Ameri- 
cans had signal success at sea. Yet so little hope was entertained of the 
little naVy effecting anything against the immense maritime power of Eng- 
land, that the Democratic administration was on the point of ordering all the 
ships to remain in port, to secure them from inevitable capture ; and 
Captains Bainbridge and Stewart with difficulty obtained leave to put to 
sea. Hardly two months elapsed before their confidence was justified 



484 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

by events. The frigate Constitution overtook and captured, after a 
August 19. short action, the British frigate Guerriere, of slightly 
inferior force. Of the English crew, 79 were killed or wounded, and 
their ship was so much injured that it was set on fire and blown up. 
The Constitution sustained but little injury, and lost only 14 of her sea- 
men. The American sloop of war Wasp, of 18 suns, Cap- 
October 13. . ^ . 1 .1, -C. T 1 T • T- 1- x-n-. 

tarn Jones, captured the English war brig b roue, of 22 guns, 
after an action of 45 minutes. The Wasp had but five killed and five 
wounded, while the loss of the enemy was about 80, only 20 of her crew 
remaining uninjured. Before the Americans could repair damages, a 

British 74 came up and captured both vessels. A few days 
October 25. , ^ • tt • i o r~\ • -r-\ 

later, the tngate United otates. Captain Decatur, encoun- 
tered and captured the British frigate Macedonian, of slightly inferior 
force, the disparity of loss being quite as great as on former occasions. 
A fourth victory was obtained on the 29tli of December, when the Con- 
stitution, then commanded by Captain Bainbridge, made prize of the 
British frigate Java, after a bloody action of three hours, the killed and 
wounded in the Java numbering 161, while the loss of the Americans 
was but 34. The effect of these naval victories was very great; they 
proved that the English had at last found their match on the ocean, and 
they wholly overcame the prejudice of the Democratic American party 
against a navy. Congress forthwith ordered the construction of four 
seventy-fours, six frigates, six sloops of war, and as many vessels on the 
Lakes as might be needed. 

Congress met early in November, and voted to increase the regular 
army, and to dispense with the volunteer force, which was found to be 
both costly and inefficient. Additional pay and bounty were offered, but 
recruits were still obtained with great difficulty. The finances of the 
country were already in great confusion, the ordinary revenue being 
quite insufficient for the expenses of the war, and the loans could not be 
filled up except at usurious rates. Internal taxes were very unpopular, 
and Congress naturally hesitated to impose them ; but the necessities of 
the government were so great, that an act was finally passed to raise five 
millions of dollars in this manner, though the taxes were not to com- 
mence till 1814. 

§ G27. The military operations of 1813, though a little more honorable 
to the American arms than those of the year before, were equally destitute 
of any important results. There were many skirmishes and actions of 
minor importance, that need not be noticed. At the northwest, General 
Winchester advanced with a portion of Harrison's army, in the hope of 
January 22 driving the enemy out of Michigan. But he Avas cncoun- 
1813. tered at Frenchtown by a superior force of British and 

Indians, under Colonel Proctor, and entirely defeated, most of his troops 
being obliged to surrender. The wounded prisoners were left behind, 



THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 485 

and most of them were butchered the next day by t^ Indians. About 

300 men perished in the battle and massacre, and GOO more were taken 

prisoners. Plarrison then advanced with the rest of the army, but was 

obliged to stop on the Maumee River, where he garrisoned Fort Meigs, 

and was besieged in it by the British under Proctor. In May, 1,200 

Kentuekians came to his relief, half of whom, after capturing the batteries 

of the enemy, were surprised and made prisoners, while the others, 

uniting with Harrison, obliged Proctor to retire to Maiden. 

On the St. Lawrence frontier, Ogdensburgh was attacked and carried 

by the British, and a jrreat amount of public and private 
Febraary 21. -^ , ' , • ■, «. ^ , , , i /-, 

property destroyed or carried oti. On the other hand, Lom- 

modore Chauncey had succeeded in fitting out a small fleet which gave 
the Americans the command of Lake Ontario. A party of 1,600 picked 
men were embarked in this fleet, and transported over the Lake, to 
attack York, the capital of Upper Canada. This enterprise was success- 
ful, a garrison of 800 men being driven out of the place, 
April 27. 

several vessels of war captured or burned, and many naval 

and military stores destroyed. But the explosion of a magazine killed 
or wounded 200 of the assailants, among whom was their brave com- 
mander. General Pike. Another expedition, fitted out in the 
May. ... 

same manner, caused the evacuation of all the British posts 

on the Niagara River, including Fort George and Fort Erie. But when 
a portion of the Americans advanced in pursuit of the enemy, they were 
surprised by a night attack, and Generals Chandler and 
Winder, with about 100 men, were made prisoners- Another 
misfortune followed ; Colonel Boerstler, who had been sent with GOO 
men to attack the British at Beaver Dams, fell into an am- 
buscade, and his whole force was obliged to surrender. The 
enemy, having launched a new frigate, now recovered the command of 
the Lake, Chauncey was blockaded, and an attack was made on Sacket's 
Harbor. General Brown succeeded in repelling this attack, but during 
the alarm, several ships and many naval stores of the Americans were 
destroyed. The war then languished in this quarter, a few incursions 
on both sides leading to no important result. But splendid success 
awaited the Americans on Lake Erie, where Commodore Perry had 
succeeded in fitting out a little squadron, composed of two Avar brigs, the 
Niagara and the Lawrence, of 20 guns each, and seven smaller vessels. 
He sailed in August to meet the enemy's squadron, commanded by Cap- 
tain Barclay, and consisting of two ships, one of 19 and the other of 17 
guns, and four smaller vessels, one of which mounted 13, and another 
10, guns. The force on both sides was about equal ; for though the 
Americans had in all but 55 guns, while their opponents had G3, the 
weight of metal was in favor of the former. The two 
" squadrons met near the western end of the lake, and after a 
41* 



486 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

furious combat of afcout three hours, in the course of which Perry's ship, 

the Lawrence, was disabled, and he shifted his flag to the Niagara, all 

the enemy's vessels were compelled to surrender. The loss on either 

side Avas about 150 killed and wounded. Perry announced his success 

in a very laconic epistle : — " We have met the enemy, and they are 

ours." As this victory gave the Americans the command of the Upper 

Lakes, Harrison's army advanced and crossed the river, by the aid of 

Perry's fleet, into Canada, where they found that Proctor had hastily 

evacuated Maiden, after dismantling the fort and burning the barracks. 

Harrison soon marched in pursuit, and found the enemy, who were about 

800 in number, with a large body of Indians, posted near the Moravian 

town on the river Thames. A rapid charge of the Americans 
October 6. , , i -r. • • , t i , n i i i 

broke the British line on both flanks, when the greater part 

of the enemy threw down their arms and surrendered, though Proctor, 

with about 200 men, effected his escape. The noted Indian chief, 

Tecumseh, who was the instigator of the war on the part of the savages, 

was killed in this battle, which was also the means of gaining back all 

the ground that had been lost by Hull, and of bringing about a peace 

with the northwestern tribes. Harrison then embarked, with 1,300 men, 

for Buffalo, to strengthen the army of the centre, as the one on the 

Niagara frontier was called. Tliis army was now ordered to advance 

upon Montreal. On its way, the British, in about equal force, 
November 11. ■, ^, , , t~<- i i i i ^^i 

were encountered at Cnrystler s t lelds, and a severe battle 

was fought with indecisive results. The troops advanced no farther than 
St. Regis, where the army from Plattsburg failed to join them, and the 
expedition was consequently given up. 

§ 628. Meanwhile British squadrons were blockading the Delaware 
and Chesapeake bays. New York, Charleston, and other ports, often 
landing small parties, which burned several villages and did much wan- 
ton injury. The Chesapeake, indeed, was permanently occupied by a 
powerful fleet of the enemy, which kept up a harassing warfare along the 
coast, without attempting any enterprise of moment. The bitter fruits 
were now reaped of that wretched economy on the part of the govern- 
ment, which had so long left an immense line of seacoast almost totally 
unprovided with fortifications. In spite of the blockading force, a few 
American ships of war succeeded in getting to sea, eager to rival the 
naval exploits of the former year. The sloop-of-war Hornet captured 
and sunk the British brig Peacock, of nearly equal force, in 

February 24. , ^ . • -r, . .^ ^ ^ /~^^ I ,• • 

a very short action. l>ut the unlucky Chesapeake frigate, 

with a discontented and undisciplined crew, having sailed from Boston 

to accept a challenge from the British frigate Shannon, was captured by 

her after a short but furious action, — the first instance of 

the American flag at sea being struck to a force which was 

not decidedly superior. But again, the Argus sloop-of-war was cap- 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ 487 

tured by the British brig Pelicar), of somewhat superior force, 

August 13. „ *' " rr., A . , T , . 

after a severe en£ra2;enient. ihe Americans soon had their 
revenge, however, as the Enterprise, of 12 guns, encountered the Bri- 
tish brig Boxer, of 14 guns, and compelled her to strike after a desperate 
conflict. 

§ G29. The only other important operations of this year grew out of a 
war with the Creek and Cherokee Indians, against whom Gen. Jackson 
was employed, with a militia force from Georgia, Tennessee, and the pre- 
sent state of Mississippi. He first marched against them in October, and 
in a two months' campaign, captured many of their villages, and defeated 
several bands of them with great slaughter. So many of Jackson's men 
then left him, from weariness of the hard service, that he was reduced to 
inactivity. The consequence was, that in January, 1814, his troops were 
thrice attacked, and the savages were repulsed with great difficulty. 
More militia were then called out, and Jackson, having succeeded in 
cooping up a large body of the Indians in a peninsula formed by a bend 
of the Tallapoosa river, forced their breastwork, and made frightful havoc 
among them. About 600 of the savages were killed or drowned, and 
250 taken prisoners. Their spirit was thus effectually broken, and the 
remainder of the tribe sued for peace on any terms. 

§ 630. The campaign of 1814 was, in general, honorable to the Ameri- 
can arms, though some great reverses were sustained; the trooi)s were now 
better disciplined, and were led by more experienced and skilful officers, 
than in the earlier part of the war. Yet the country labored under great 
difficulties, and a tone of discouragement w^as perceptible even in the 
President's message to Congress. The finances were in great disorder, 
and the public credit had fallen so low that money could not be obtained 
on loan except at a ruinous sacrifice. The whole Atlantic coast was 
now blockaded by the British fleet, the slaves in the southern States were 
encouraged to desert to the ships, and the only mode of preventing the 
enemy from being supplied with food and other necessaries from the 
shore was to pass a law absolutely forbidding all exports. The large 
cities on the coast were kept in constant apprehension of an attack, and 
the militia had to be called out in great numbers to defend them. New 
England had always been opposed to the war, and seemed determined 
to do little but defend her own borders, and sullenly obey the requisitions 
of Congress. The cessation of the war in Europe, through the overthrow 
of Napoleon and the entrance of the allies into Paris, early in the spring 
of 1814, put the fleets and army of England at liberty, and enabled the 
British ministers to make large detachments to carry on the war in 
America. On the part of the Americans, all idea of conquering Canada 
had to be given up, and the war became entirely defensive in its cha- 
racter. But the spirit of the people rose with their difficulties, an obsti- 
nate resistance was made at many points, and the resolution was formed 
and adhered to, not to submit to peace on disadvantageous terms. 



488 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

§ 631. The military operations of the year were distributed over so vast 
a theatre, and comprehended so many petty contiicts, that only the more 
important events can be noticed. On the Niagara frontier, the Ameri- 
can army, after it had been rigidly disciplined for several months by 
Gen. Brown, who was admirably seconded by Scott, Ripley, Jessup, and 
other able officers, was led across the river, 3,000 strong, and encoun- 
tered the enemy, of equal force, under Gen. Riall, at Chip- 
pewa. A furious engagement ensued, the first pitched bat- 
tle of the war ; after great loss on both sides, the British gave way, and 
retreated in disorder to their retrenchments in the rear. The next day, 
they abandoned these also, and retired to Burlington heights. Large 
reinforcements from England, under Gen. Drummond, arrived to 
strengthen Riall's position, and on the 25th, the two armies again met in 
a pitched battle at Bridge water, very near Niagara Falls. The conflict 
lasted from noon till midnight, the ground being obstinately contested on 
both sides, and the result not very decisive, though the Americans had 
the advantage. They captured Gen. Riall himself and many other pri- 
soners, took the whole of the British artillery, and retained possession of 
the battle-field for some time aft-er the enemy retired. The British loss 
was 878, and the American, 743, The army, not strong enough to 
advance, and unwilling to retreat across the river, then took shelter in 
Fort Erie, and Gen. Gaines came to take the command. Drummond 
advanced with a much larger force, and laid siege to the fort, on which 
he at length made a furious attack by night. After some 
'^ ' hard fighting, he was repulsed with the loss of nearly a thou- 
sand men, while the Americans lost but 84. Brown then came to re- 
sume the command, and found that the enemy were pushing forwards 
their works for a regular investment of the place. He resolved to try 
a sortie, which was completely successful. The guns of the 
' besiegers were spiked, their magazines blown up, and 400 
prisoners brought oiF, the killed and wounded amounting to GOO more. 
The American loss was not half so great. The desired effect soon fol- 
lowed, as Drummond hastily raised the siege and retired behind the 
Chippewa. This was the end of active operations on the Niagara fron- 
tier, as Izard, who next assumed the command, brought the army back 
to the American shore. 

§ G32. Events equally honorable to the Americans took place on Lake 
Champlain. From their camp at Plattsburg, most of the troops had 
been drawn away to aid the operations on Lake Ontario and the Niagara. 
Macomb w^as left in command, with only 3,000 men, many of them inva- 
lids, and some militia. Sir George Prevost, the governor of Canada, 
led an army of 12,000 regular troops over the frontier towards Platts- 
burg, while the British squadron, under Downie, numbering sixteen ves- 
sels, and carrying ninety -five guns and 1,000 seamen, sailed down the 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 489 

lake to the same point. McDonough, the American Commodore, had 

moored at Plattsburg liis fleet, consisting of four vessels and ten gunboats, 

carrying in all eightj-six guns and 850 men. Macomb's force was 

strongly posted behind the river Saranac, a rocky and unfordable stream. 

„ , , ,, The attack by land and water took place simultaneously. In 
September 11. "" ,,.,,« -r^ 

• two hours and a half, all of Downie's larger vessels were 

obliged to strike to the Araei-icans, and his gunboats escaped with diffi- 
culty. Prevost's attack on land had been a feeble one, and immediately 
after the capture of his fleet, it was abandoned, and the army retreated 
that night in great haste, leaving baggage and stores, and even the sick 
and wounded, behind them. A panic seems to have seized Prevost and 
his troops, neutralizing their great superiority of force. 

§ 633. But this was the end of American success for the year; the rest 
is a story of disaster, with a gleam of light at the close. In July, the enemy 
took possession of Eastport, in Maine, and in September, they sailed up 
the Penobscot, burned the frigate Adams, that had taken refuge there, 
and " annexed " all the country east of that river to the British domi- 
nions. Early in August, the English fleet in the Chesapeake was 
largely reinforced, a considerable body of English troops having arrived 
from Europe. Great alarm was caused on shore, and the militia were 
called out in force for the defence of Washington and Baltimore, there 
being very few regular troops in that region. Most of the British fleet 
passed the Potomac, and sailed up the Patuxent to Benedict, where 
Gen. Ross landed with about 5,000 men, and commenced his 

August 19. I /> TTT 1 • 1-1 

max-ch tor W ashington, which was about forty miles distant, 
the road passing through a thinly populated country. Several bodies of 
militia fell back before him, and a flotilla of gunboats was blown up, the 
sailors who had manned them being landed and joined to the troops, for 
the purpose of serving the artillery. At Bladensburg, the British en- 
countered a motley array of militia and a few regulars. 
° ' under Gen. Winder, assisted by the President and the mem- 
bers of the cabinet, most of whom fled before the first shot reached their 
ranks. But the artillery, served by the sailors, did good execution, until 
deserted by the other troops, when the guns were necessarily abandoned. 
Ross then marched on and occupied Washington, where two new vessels 
of war and the magazines of stores had already been set on fire and de- 
stroyed. The capitol, the President's house, and the public offices were 
burned by the enemy, who also destroyed some private property. Hav- 
ing eifected this wanton injury, and being fearful that troops enough 
might be collected to impede their retreat, the English hastily returned 
to their shipping. Three daysfafterwards, their frigates passed up the 
Potomac as far as Alexandria, and extorted a heavy ransom from that 
city. The British fleet next appeared off the Patapsco, and the troops 
were landed again for an attack on Baltimore. A skirmish ensued with 



490 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

an advanced body of the militia at North Point, Gen. Ross was killed, 

and the Americans were not driven from the ground till 
September 12. . . 

' several hundred had fallen on either side. The cannonading 

of the forts by the ships having produced but little eifect, and the militia 
appearing to be strongly intrenched about the city, the enemy concluded 
to retire without effecting any thing. 

§ 634. The next attempt was made upon New Orleans. Jactson, who 
commanded in that quarter, had been compelled, in October, to storm the 
fort and seize the city of Pensacola, because the Spaniards there had admit- 
ted British troops into the place, who had begun to train the refugee 
Creek Indians for hostilities against the United States. He heard, soon 
afterwards, that a powerful espedi»'ion was on its way to attack New 
Orleans, and he mai-ched thither, and took very energetic measures to 
provide for its defence. The militia were called in, martial law was pro- 
claimed, and all able-bodied persons were compelled to work upon the 
fortifications or to bear arms. Gen. Pakenham, with 8,000 British regu- 

_ lars, approached the city by way of Lake Borgne, while 

DccGTnbcr 15. •/•/•/ '— 

Jackson had but 5,000 men to oppose him, of whom four 

fifths were militia. When the enemy had taken post about fifteen miles 

below New Orleans, the American general drew out most of 
December '^S 

his troops to make a night attack upon their camp. He 

threw them into gi-eat confusion, and then made good his retreat, with a 
loss of 220 in killed and wounded, the British loss being somewhat 
greater. This check made Pakenham more cautious, and he waited for 
reinforcements and artillery from the fleet, thus giving the Americans 
time to strengthen their position. During this interval, also, 2,000 Ken- 
tuckians. arrived, and Jackson Avas enabled to throw up fortifications on 
the other side of the river, fearing an attack in that quarter. On the 
8th of January, the grand attack was made, the British with 
true bulldog courage marching up in front to storm a position 
that had been made almost impregnable. A tremendous fire was opened 
upon them, Pakenham was killed, two other generals were wounded, one 
mortally, and at last the enemy were compelled to retire, Avith a loss of 
over 2,000 men. The Americans, who fought under shelter, lost but 71. 
The effect of this blow Avas decisive, and the enemy, as soon as they 
could bury their dead, retreated to their shipping. 

§ G35. The battle of New Orleans Avas the closing event of the war. On 
the 11th of February, a A^essel arrived at New York, bringing an unex- 
pected treaty of peace, which had been negotiated at Ghent between the 
English and American commissioners, and already ratified by the British 
government. Never were tidings more Avelcome ; bonfires and illumi- 
nations Avere made in the principal cities, and the strifes of opposite 
factions Avere forgotten in the general rejoicing. The treaty Avas a very 
simple one ; nothing was determined in it respecting neutral trade and 



THE HOLY ALLIANCE. 491 

impressment, the discussion of these subjects having been rendered unne- 
cessary by the general pacification of Europe, and most of the lesser 
subjects of dispute being referred to subsequent negotiation. The two 
parties, at the close of the war, remained just as they had been, with 
respect to each other, at its commencement. Both were exhausted by 
the prodigious efforts they had made, and were weary both of victories 
and defeats, of glory, hazard, and suffering. Excepting some petty con- 
flicts with the Indian tribes, the United States, after the conclusion of the 
treaty of Ghent, remained at peace with all the world for thirty years, — 
a period long enough for a new generation to arise, which could learn 
only by hearsay the story of the few triumphs and many disasters of the 
war of 1812. * 



F. THE PEOPLE AND STATES OF EUROPE FROM THE 
HOLY ALLIANCE TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

1. THE HOLY ALLIANCE AND THE POSITION OF PAKTIES. 

§ 636. The upper strata of society, which, in the ordinary course of events, 
suffer little from the mutations of life, had, .through the Revolution and 
the military despotism of Napoleon, been visited by severe strokes of 
fortune. A more profound consideration of the revolutionary movement 
pointed to the supervision of a Higher Power, which brings to nought 
every impious endeavor, and every presumptuous self-reliance. Reli- 
gious feeling again returned to the bosoms of men, and gave predomi- 
nance to piety and Christian faith among the upper classes. Penetrated 
by this feeling, the three allied monarchs, Alexander of Russia, Francis 
of Austria, and Frederick Wilham III, of Prussia, before their departure 
September 25, from Paris, concluded the Holy Alliance, which was joined 
1815. by all the sovereigns of Europe, with the exception of the 

pope and the king of England. In this holy alliance, which was formed 
without sincere reference to religious views, the three potentates swore, 
" That in accordance with the words of Holy Scripture, which commands 
all men to love each other as brethren, they would remain united in the 
bands of true and indissoluble brotherly love ; that they would mutually 
help and assist each other ; that they would govern their people like 
fathers of families, and that they would maintain religion, peace, and jus- 
tice." This alliance, beautiful in theory, was soon made the instrument 
of a faithless and liberty-endangering policy, which sought, by means of 
religion, to establish the absolutism of princes, and the omnipotence of 
governments, and to suppress the doctrine of the sovereignty of the peo- 
ple, and the democratical and constitutional forms of government which 
are its necessary result. Whilst the Holy Alliance made use of Christi- 



492 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

anity to establish reactionary principles, it drew upon the whole work 
the reproach of hypocrisy, and the hatred of the people. 

§ 637. Whilst princes and governments were, for the most part, striv- 
ing after absolute monarchical forms, tlie wishes of the people were 
directed to the establishment of constitutional governments. According to 
the constitution which has grown up on the free soil of Britain, the right 
of voting taxes, and of having a share in the government and the legisla- 
tion, belongs to the people, as represented by their members of parliament. 
As the authority of the king and the rights and liberties of the people 
are alike discerned in this representative constitution, this form appeared 
best suited for civilized states. The chief efforts of the European na- 
tions were accordingly directed to the establishment or enlargement of 
this constitutional form of government, and public energy was almost ex- 
clusively turned to afiairs of state and internal political life. Two pow- 
erful parties were formed, the one (called sometimes aristocratic, some- 
times conservative, sometimes servile) which wished to grant the people 
as few, tlie other (called democratic, liberal, and, when its views were 
extreme, radical) which wished to grant the people as many, privileges 
as possible ; and whilst the former hindered, as far as it could, the intro- 
duction of constitutional forms of state, or, if introduced, attempted to de- 
prive them, by any means, of their democratical elements, the efforts of 
the latter were directed to the founding and developing of the constitu- 
tional life, and to increasing the privileges of the people. Governments 
were, in general, in the hands of the former ; consequently, the liberals 
formed the opposition. Of the five great European powers, England and 
France alone possessed constitutional governments ; Russia, Austria, and 
Prussia held fast their monarchical absolutism. In Germany, Italy, and 
the Pyrenean peninsula, history turns principally upon these constitutional 
contests, by which now one, and now the other, of these state principles 
obtained the upper hand. 

2. FRANCE. ^ 

§ 638. A remarkable revolution in opinions and mode of thinking took 
place in this much convulsed country after the Restoration. The party 
of zealous royalists (Ultras, or " White Jacobins," as they were called 
by their opponents) acquired such predominance, that the king had some 
difficulty in maintaining the constitutional charter. In the place of 
the freethinking opinions, and the hostility to the Church, which prevailed 
at a former period, a fanatical religious credulity made its appearance, 
which, combined with the most enthusiastic loyalty, called into existence 
horrors which surpassed the bloodiest deeds of the Revolu- 
' tion. In Marseilles, Toulon, Nimes, Toulouse, and other 
places, a furious and fanatical mob fell upon such inhabitants as were 
known to be Protestants, Bonapartists, or Repubhcans, and murdered hun- 



FRANCE. 493 

dreds of them (among others, Marshal Brune) in a most barbarous man- 
Febraary 13, ner. Tlic assassination of the Due de Berri, that nephew of 
■'^^^^- the king upon whom all the hopes of the Bourbons were 

placed, by Louvel, a political ftvnatic, facilitated the efforts of the reac- 
tionary party, at the head of which stood the count of Artois and the 
duke of Angouleme. The king found himself compelled to dismiss the 
moderate ministry of Decazes, and to consent to a limitation 
' " ' of the freedom of the person, of the press, and of the right 
of voting. The zeal of the royalists reached its climax under 
the ministry of Villele. The Chamber expelled the liberal 
deputy, Manuel, from their body, and the army, conducted by Angou- 
leme, crossed the Pyrenees at the command of the Holy Alliance, for 
the purpose of restoring unlimited monarchy in Spain. 

§ 639. On the 16th of September, 1824, Louis XVIII. concluded his 
varied and severely-tried existence. Stern experience had taught him 
compassion and moderation ; the impetuous violence of the other mem- 
bers of the royal family filled the heart of the dying man with melan- 
choly auguries for the future. His brother, the count of Artois, became 

king of France as Charles X. By his solemn corona- 
May 29, 1825. . ° , . . . ^, . , '' •, . . T . ., . 

tion and anomtmg ni Kheims, he appeared to indicate that 
he intended to govern after the manner of the old " Most Christian " 
kings. He accordingly turned his affections towards the nobility and 
clergy, and surrendered himself entirely to the reactionary party, with 
the watchword " Throne and altar." The emigrants who had suffered 
losses during the Revolution received 1,000 million francs from the 
royal Chambers as an indemnification ; and a series of laws in favor of 
the Church and of the Christian religion announced the intention of 
the king to erect a mighty barrier against revolutionary notions by the 
ecclesiastical regeneration of France. Charles X. thought to establish 
this regeneration by founding rich prelacies, by restoring to the clergy 
their former influential position, by favoring the system of Orders, and 
by bringing back that holiness of the Church which is founded upon 
works, together with the whole of the new Romish pomp. The Jesuits, 
who had long been re-established by the pope, returned, although not 
publicly ; they founded meetings for pious exercises (congregations), 
and attempted to get the education of youth into their hands. By these 
means, the king strengthened the liberal opposition, inasmuch as all men 
of philosophical education, every friend of light and of enlightenment, 
turned from a government that favored obscurantism. Whilst the delud- 
ed monarch believed that he could impose the old fetters upon the minds 
of the people by inopportune missions and penitential processions, or by 
compulsory laws and limitations, the assiduous youth were listening to 
the liberal discourses and doctrines of the enlightened professors of the 
University of Paris (Guizot, Villemain, Royer-Collard, &c.,) or reading 

42 



494 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

the bold and free discussions of the opposition press ( Globe, National, Con- 
stitutlonnel), or deli_£jhting themselves with Beranger's songs of freedom, 
and the satires of the Hellenist, Paul Louis Courier ; whilst the citizen 
read the widely-spread works of Voltaire and the Encyclopjedists, or 
the histories and memorials of the Revolution, and of the renowned reign 
of Napoleon (Thiers, Mignet, &;c.) 

3. THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLES IN THE PYRENEAN PENINSULA 

AND IN ITALY. 

§ 640. In Spain and Italy, the new political ideas had made no pro- 
gress among the people, who were ruled by their priests ; they existed in 
the heads of the educated, and, as it was dangerous to avow them openly, 
they were disseminated in secret societies. Such political associations 
"were the " Freemasons " in Spain and Portugal, and the " Carbonari " in 
Italy. Abolition of priestly power, introduction of free constitutional 
forms, enlightenment of the people, arousing patriotism and a feeling of 
nationality, were their great objects. Their influence was first attended 
■with results in Spain. Ferdinand, a false and suspicious man, and a 

master in dissimulation, overthrew, after his return, the Cortes' 
May 10, 1814. _, . . . ^ . ' , , \ , , ,. . , 

Constitution m bpain, and brought back the unlimited monar- 
chy of the old time and all its evils. Nobility and clergy again recovered 
their exemption from taxes ; the monasteries were restored ; the Jesuits 
ventured to make their appearance; the Inquisition reappeared, and 
with it the rack and all the horrors of a dark age. A frightful persecu- 
tion now arose, not only agajnst all the adherents of France (Afrances- 
ados), and all who had filled ofiices under Joseph, or had in any way 
served him, but against the chiefs and adherents of the Cortes, against 
the leaders of the bands who had shed their heart's blood for king and 
country, and who now claimed, as a well-deserved reward, a share in the 
government and civil freedom. Many of these heroic warriors died by 
the hand of the executioner, others wandered in foreign countries as out- 
laws and" fugitives ; those who remained behind concealed their views 
and their resentment in the silence of their own bosoms. A camarilla, 
consisting of the selfish privileged class, fanatical priests, obsequious cour- 
tiers, and intriguing women, secured Ferdinand's confidence, and incited 
him to the most cruel persecution of every liberal. The government and 
the affairs of justice were in a most deplorable condition, the treasury was 
exhausted, despite the oppressive taxes, trade was stagnant, the South 
American colonies renounced allegiance to Spain, and engaged in a war 
which ended in the independence of the separate states, and the establish- 
ment of sevei'al republics. 

§ 641. At this juncture, it happened that, on the New Year's Day of 
1820, a military conspiracy broke out among the regiments assembled at 
Cadiz for embarkation for South America. The standard of rebellion 



SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND ITALY. 495 

was raised and the Constitution of the Cortes proclaimed. Colonel Riego 
was the soul of the undertaking ; Quiroga, who had been liberated frona 
prison, undertook the conduct of the whole. The insui-rection soon spread 
to every quarter of Spain; the Constitution of the year '12 was every- 
where demanded, and nothing was left to the king but to yield to the de- 
mand, to summon the Cortes, and to swear to the constitution. 

]\Iarch r, 1820. ,„, . . , ^ , o • t i • i , • 

Ihis triumph or the opanish democi'ats excited their party in 
Portugal and Italy to imitation. Popular tumults took place in Lisbon 
and Oporto, and resulted in the removal of Lord Beresford, who governed 
the country in the name of the king, who was still lingering in Brazil, the 
summoning of the Estates (Cortes), and the intr<Kluction of a constitution 
January 26, 0^ the model of that of Spain. John VI. returned to Lisbon, 
1821. and swore to the new constitution for Portugal and Brazil. 

The Carbonari excited a military conspiracy in Naples, which soon made 
such progress, that king Ferdinand found himself compelled to consent to 
the introduction of the Spanish constitution. William Pepe and Caras- 

cosa, the heads of the conspiracy, marched in triumph, at the 

July 13, 1820. IT/.,. n,/-~ii -ii-i 

head ot the insurgent troops and the Carbonari, who had 

joined them, into Naples. A revolutionary movement broke out also in 

Piedmont against the absolute monarchy, supported by the aristocracy 

and priesthood, in consequence of which Victor Emmanuel 

abdicated, and the Spanish constitution was introduced into 

the kingdom of Sardinia also. 

§ 642. The chiefs of the Holy Alliance, disturbed by this new revolu- 
tionary spirit, that seemed to have seized upon the German youth also, 
embraced the resolution, at the instigation of Metternich, of suppressing 

the liberal movement. At the congress of Laybach, at which 
January, 1821. . ° •' ' 

king b erdinand ot iSJaples was also present by the invitation 

of the monarchs, it was determined to overthrow the constitutional govern- 
ment in Naples by violence. Ferdinand approved the proposal. An 
Austrian army was marched in ; the dastardly forces of Pepe and Caras- 
cosa were quickly overpowered, and either dispersed or forced to surren- 
der, upon which the king again abolished the constitutional government. 
From this time, priestly power and absolute monarchy, supported by 
mercenary troops and a system of police, were united together for the 
suppression of every movement of freedom by terror and the bondage of 
the intellect. 

This result decided the fate of the Piedmontese constitution. It is true 
that the enthusiastic liberals, under Santa Rosa, resisted their enemies at 
. . Novara not without glory ; but their strength was soon broken. 

April 1821. . a J ' D 

Turin and Alessandria were occupied by the Austrians ; and 
unlimited monarchy in its severest form, and with all the horrors of the 
reaction, was again restored in Sardinia. 

§ G43. Not much more splendid was the end of the Spanish Cortes. 



496 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

When the liberals abused their victory, placed undue restrictions upon 
the kingly power, and proceeded with great violence against the priest- 
hood, the privileged classes, and the ancient and traditionary privileges 
and usages, the priests and the adherents of absolute power stirred up 
the people to resistance. A bloody civil war once more threatened to 
tear the unhappy country to pieces. At this juncture, the members of 
the Holy Alliance at the Congress of Verona required the 
' *"" Cortes in Madrid to alter the constitution, and to give the 
king greater powers. The Cortes rejected this demand with defiance. 
A French army, under the command of the duke of Angouleme, now 
Febraaiy, marched over the Pyrenees. It was in vain that the Cortes 
1823. summoned the nation to arms ; constitutional freedom was a 

word without meaning for people led by priests and monks, and the new 
system was opposed to their habits and feelings ; the popular wax-, the 
old renowned guerilla, on Avhich the Cortes had placed its confidence, 
did not arise ; the people and the camarilla saluted the French as deli- 
verers from the detested rule of the Freemasons. It was in vain that a 
few leaders, like Mina in Barcelona and Quiroga in Leon, resisted with 
courage and spirit the foi'eign army; the soldiers showed little love for 
fighting, and sought to secure themselves betimes by capitulations. The 
French marched triumphantly into Madrid, and, as the Cortes and king 
had fled to the south, they appointed a regency. The strong city of 
Cadiz was the last place of refuge for the friends of the constitution ; 
August 5, the French appeared before the town. The courage of the 
1823. members of the Cortes sank ; instead of burying themselves 

beneath the ruins of the town, as they had formerly grandiloquently 
expressed it, they concluded a treaty with the besiegers, by which they 
consented to their own dissolution and set the king at liberty. Ferdi- 
nand VII. was now replaced in the fulness of his power by foreign 
bayonets ; the constitution and all its arrangements fell into desuetude, 
and the apostolic party let loose all the demons of rage and vengeance 
against its opponents. Riego and many of his confederates 
died by the hands of the executioner, thousands wandered 
about in foreign countries as starving and houseless fugitives and 
outlaws, and an equal number were compelled to expiate in mouldy 
dungeons the crime of having attempted to rob the people of the 
institutions to which three hundred years of despotism had accustomed 
them. 

§ 644. The lamentable end of the Cortes government of Spain in- 
spired the queen of Portugal (sister of Ferdinand VII.) and her second 
son, Don Miguel, with the project of getting rid, at the same time, of their 
detested constitution by an act of violence. They induced the weak 
king, John VI., to abolish the Constitution of the Cortes, and to sanction 
the persecution of the -Constitutionalists and the Freemasons. Shortly 



-GREAT BRITAIN. 497 

after this, Don Miguel excited a rebellion against his own father, with 

the purpose of obtaining the regency, but gained instead a 

sentence of banishment from the country. John VI. died 

two years afterwards. His eldest son, Don Pedro, who, 
Marchl0,1826. . -^ ... r -o -i n , 

being constitutional emperor ot Jorazii, could not at the same 

time become king of Poi'tugal, made over the government of the mother 
country to his daughter. Donna Maria da Gloria, who was a minor, and 
granted the Portuguese a liberal constitution. His brother, Don Miguel, 
having returned from banishment, succeeded, some time after, in again 
overthrowing this constitution by the aid of the apostolic party. He 
robbed his niece of her risjht to the throne, had himself pro- 
claimed absolute king, and proceeded by banishment, impri- 
sonment, and death, against the friends and adherents of constitutional 
order. But his reign was short. Don Pedro, compelled in Brazil 
to surrender his crown to his son, who was under age, landed in Portugal 
A. D. "with the soldiers he had raisedj and reduced his tyrannical 

1832 1834. brother to such extremities in a war of two years' duration, 
that he at length renounced the crown and retired abroad. Upon this, 
Pedro again restored the Cortes government, which, after his early death, 
however, underwent many attacks and alterations. 

4. GREAT BRITAIN. 

§ 645. England had come forth from the long struggle with France 
powerful and victorious. She bad destroyed the fleets of other nations, 
and put her own marine on such a footing that her empire of the sea 
was incontestable ; she had increased her colonies in the West Indies, 
had raised Canada, had planted colonies in the west and south of Africa, 
and had created an empire in the East Indies, after the conquest of the 
mighty sultan Tippoo Saib, that far surpassed the mother country in size 
and population, and was an inexhaustible source of trade and commerce. 
Distant islands, opened to the view of the astonished world by daring 
navigatoi's, like Cook and others, bowed themselves beneath the sceptre 
of the island empress of the sea. The possession of Gibraltar and Malta, 
the protective government of the Ionian Isles, the free passage through 
the Dardanelles, secured to her, after the peace of Paris, the dominion 
of the Mediterranean and intercourse with the Levant. By her firmly- 
established constitution, with the liberty of the press and of speech, 
and the naiTowly defined limits between the rights of the king and of 
the people, England excited the envy of other nations. But with all 
this power and prosperity without, the state was suffering from incurable 
wounds. 1. Whilst a small proportion of the people had amassed 
enormous wealth, the larger number of them were sunk in the most op- 
pressive poverty. The expensive land and naval wars, and the enormous 
subsidies that the government sent to the Continent, had raised the 
42* 



498 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

national debt to such a sura that the yearly interest amounted to thirty- 
four million pounds. This burden of debt, together with an extravagant 
court and excessive salaries, increased the expenditure of the state to such 
a degree that the necessary sums could only be obtained by a perpetually 
increasing taxation of articles of trade, necessaries of life, income (in- 
come-tax), houses, and landed property. This occasioned the irapover- 
ishment of the small landed proprietors and of tradesmen with moderate 
capitals. The lands fell into the hands of the rich nobles, who discovered 
the means of increasing their incomes by raising rents and preventing 
the importation of foreign corn by the corn-laws. Trade fell into the 
hands of the rich manufacturers, who, by enlarging their business, outdid 
men of smaller means ; the middle class of citizens decreased, while the 
number of artisans, who lived from hand to mouth, increased to a for- 
midable amount. Heavy poor-rates imposed upon the public, and oc- 
casional contributions by the government, were not sufficient to counter- 
act the evil. The lower orders, excited by want and misery, made re- 
peated attempts to improve their condition by insurrections, but their 
illegal proceedings invariably resulted .in their own injury. The un- 
armed crowd was easily dispersed by the military ; but the sanguinary 
punishments inflicted upon the insurgents of Manchester 

A. D. 1819. ^ , , rr., 1 

brought severe censure upon the government. Ihe lower 
classes soon began to strive for political influence also. To give them- 
selves a voice in the legislature, they demanded universal suffrage, 
yearly parliaments, and vote by ballot. They laid down their principles 
in a people's charter, whence they received the name of Chartists. It is 
to their exertions that the relaxation of the corn-laws, by which the in- 
troduction of foreign corn was facilitated, is to be ascribed. 

A. D. 1842. 

In 1846, the corn-laws were entirely repealed. 
§ 646. 2. After the severe contest against Napoleon, there came a 
Court and period of torpor in England. George IV., a king sunk in 
Government, vice and pleasure, who in his youth had gone with the oppo- 
sition, put his confidence in the cold-blooded Tories who had grown grey 
in the state-wisdom of Pitt, and turned away his eyes and his heart from 
the people. The latter rewarded him with aversion and hatred, especially 
when he gave notoriety to the first year of his independent reign by a 
scandalous action for divorce, before the Upper House, 

A D 18*^0 

against his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, who was living in 
unwilling separation from him. When the queen died, in 
the following year, the sympathy and compassion of the 
nation followed her to the grave, little as her conduct or morals were 
c'.eserving of praise. Castlereagh, the old associate of George, and the 
Auo-ust 12 supporter of a false and ftiithless policy, died by his own 
1822. hand during a paroxysm of melancholy. This was a great 

shock to the king, who was burdened by so many sins of youth, and 



GREAT BRITAIN. 499 

made him shun society. He passed the last years of his life in gloomy 
retirement, whilst the great statesman, Canning, who approached the 
principles of the Whigs, restored its former preeminence to the insular 
empire of England. George IV.'s only daughter, the intelligent and 
amiable princess Charlotte (wife of Leopold of Coburg, afterwards king 
of the Belgians), having died young and without children, William IV., 
the king's brother, a plain, homely man, ascended the throne after 

William IV. Gr^orge's death. Under him, the Whigs got the manage- 
A. D. 1830- ment of atfairs into their hands, and the important measure 
-'■®^^- of parliamentary reform, by which the elections for parlia- 

ment were arranged afresh according to the number of the population, 
and the right of suffrage was made dependent upon a certain income, 
March 1, 1S31. "was carried after the most violent opposition, and formed the 
August, 1835. triumph of the middle class over the aristocracy. Shortly 
after this, slave emancipation, at which Wilberforce and other philan- 
thropists had been working for years, was carried. England, after vast 
sums paid in indemnifying the planters, set the slaves at liberty in her 
colonies, and has since endeavored with all her strength to induce other 
^ nations to take a similar step, and to entirely suppress the 

slave traffic. After William IV., his neice, Victoria, married 
since (the 10th of February, 1840) to prince Albert of Coburg, received 
the crown of England. Under. her government, the great statesman, 
Sir Robert Peel, attempted to give a fresh impulse to ti-ade by moderat- 
ing the import duties. Since then, " free-trade " has been the watch- 
word of the day. 

§ 647. Ireland to the present hour is the sore spot in the body politic 

of England. The maltreatment of former generations has 
Ireland. 

produced a gulf between England and Ireland which never 

permitted a perfect union between two people different in race, religion, 
and institutions. Two things especially, produced by an old injustice, 
excited the hatred of the irritable Irish, — the hai'sh treatment of the 
poor peasants by their noble English landlords, and the unnatui'al con- 
dition of the Church, where Anglican priests are in possession of the 
Irish Church temporalities, whilst the poor Catholic population are 
obliged to maintain their unpaid clergy from their necessity. The com- 
plaints of the Irish were unheard ; the insurrections that were attempted 

were suppressed, and increased the oppression. It was not 
A. D. 1829. .,,... ^ 

until admission into the English parliament was granted to 

Irish Catholics by the Emancipation Act, that the Irish people had an 

opportunity of demanding an abolition of abuses. Daniel O'Connell, who 

now entered parliament with a " tail " of more than forty similarly-minded 

Irishmen, threatened a Repeal of the Union, unless attention was paid 

to the righteous demands of the Irish people. The increasing poverty 

which, owing to the failure of the potato crop, produced pestilence and 



500 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

famine, required stringent remedies for the prevailing abuses. Owing to 
tlie irritable and excitable nature of the Irish, it was an easy task for the 
great popular orator and demagogue, O'Connell, to keep the country in a 
perpetual ferment, and, by the watchword of " repeal," to direct the 
whole energy of the people to a single object. Repeal associations were 
formed in every spot and corner, with a common fund for furthering the 
aims of O'Connell ; the Catholic priesthood, who exercised an unlimited 
power over the ignorant people, were in his service ; his word was law 
in Ireland. The principal demand of the Irish was the abolition of the 
tithes, whicli Avere paid in Ireland to the English clergy. When their 
proposals were not received by the English parliament, the tenants re- 
fused to pay the tithes, and opposed the distraints ; and, when the English 
had recourse to force, they employed force in return. Bands of armed 
men marched through the country, marking their course with blood and 
fire. These things pressingly admonished the government to give its 
best attention to " starving and revolutionary Ireland, the land of passions 
and of misery." The country was threatened with a state of warfare by 
the Irish Coercion Bill, in order to maintain obedience by terror ; and an 
attempt was made by the Irish Church Bill, and the so-called appropria- 
tion clause, to abolish or moderate the Church payments of the tenants, 
and to apply a portion of the Church property to secular purposes, 
namely, to the improvement of public education. But this project en- 
countered such resistance from the Iligh-Church party and the aristo- 
cratic Tories, that it was not till after a parliamentary contest of a twelve- 
month that the Tithes Bill was passed, and even then in a mutilated 
shape. The High-Church opposition formed the so-called Orange clubs, 
which attempted to frustrate all concessions to the Irish, and kept re- 
ligious and national hatred in constant activity. 

5. GERMANY. 

§ 648. Germany, after the Congress of Vienna, was weaker and less 
united than she had been during the empire. It is true that the number 
of independent principalities and states had been lessened by more than 
a hundred, and that the bishoprics, abbacies, and imperial towns had been 
deprived of their independent position ; but, on the other hand, thirty- 
ei^ht territories which had been included in the German Union received 
sovereign powers, as far as their internal affairs were concerned. In 
place of the old imperial Diet appeared the Federative Diet of Frankfort- 
on-the-Maine, composed of representatives of the different governments, 
under the presidentship of Austria. But, as this assembly was entirely 
directed by the wishes of single governments, it had no independent 
power ; and the German Union was an impotent member among Euro- 
pean states, dependent upon the influence of the two great powers, Austria 
and Prussia, which assumed the first rank, in virtue of their German 



GERMANY. 501 

provinces. Even foreign kingdoms sent representatives to the Frankfort 
Diet, as Denmark for Holstein, and the Netherlands for Luxemburg. 
This powerless condition of Germany gave as little satisfaction abroad as 
the internal arrangements sufTiced at home. Instead of a strong union, 
with a united federative government and » popular representation, such 
as patriotic men had hoped and striven for, the creation of tlie Viennese 
Congress w^as a union formed of a number of sovereign states, in which 
the governments, but not the people, were represented; and the 13th 
article of the Union Act, by which a general promise was given of the 
introduction of a state constitution, without any distinct notice of the time 
and manner of its accomplishment, did not satisfy the expectations of the 
people. As Prussia, where the men of the retrograde movement, Haller, 
Schmalz, and others, soon obtained the upper hand of the patriots of the 
war of liberty, delayed bringing forward the promised state constitution, 
and at length, instead of the desired imperial legislature, granted only 
provincial estates M'ith consulting voices, without either publicity or gen- 
eral interest, the discontent of the German people became every day 
greater. Austria, under the influence of Metternich, was governed in a 
spirit of complete absolutism, and kept as far aloof from Germany as pos- 
sible ; and Prussia gave herself up more and more to the same views, 
and allowed herself to be made the instrument of the execution of most 
unpopular measures. As there was no general system of management 
or debate, the constitutions that were gradually introduced into Saxe- 
"VVeimar, Baden, Wirtemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and many other small 
states, turned out very different from each other, so that, in this respect 
also, Germany appeared torn and divided. And then the duties between 
different countries, which acted as a bar to their intercoui'se ! It seemed 
as though Germany was about to be broken up into its separate races 
and states ! 

§ 649. This state of things filled the German people with discontent, 
and shook their confidence in the patriotism of the governments. The 
liberal party, which was aiming at a progressive development of state 
affairs in a democratic direction, and kept alive the idea of German unity, 
gained ground daily. But, above all, the German youth, who had been 
filled with an admiration of the middle ages by the new romantic poetry, 
were dissatisfied with the present. They longed for the empire of the 
middle age, and for the former unity and greatness of Germany ; and 
sought to give life to the new ideas of popular government under the old 
German forms and titles. Without clearness of aim, and without know- 
ledge or respect for obstacles, the youths who, in the German high schools, 
had formed the fraternal alliance of the " General Burschenschaft," strove 
after an ideal world and state creation upon the old German system. This 
October 18 feeling first displayed itself during the festival of the Wart- 
1817. burg. On the day of the battle of Leipsic, a festival was 



502 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

celebrated as an introduction to the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, 
which is always solemnized with great enthusiasm in Protestant Germany ; 
and at the same time, in remembrance of the struggle for liberty, a num- 
ber of students held a meeting at the Wartburg, near Eisenach, at which 
fiery speeches were made by the young men, and at the conclusion, fol- 
lowing the example of Luther, certain writings of Kotzebue, Kamptz, 
Haller, Jarke, and others, which were offensive to their views, together 
with some symbols of an antiquated and feudal period, such as pigtails, 
breast-laces, corpoi'als' canes, were, with youthful wantonness, committed 
to the flames. If an undue importance was attached by the government 
to this occurrence, yet it is not to be wondered at that the bloody deed 
of one of these confederates of the Wartburg, George Sand, should be 
looked upon as the act of a great political conspiracy, and give rise to a 
series of legal investigations and prosecutions, on account of " demagogic 
intrigues?' Sand, of Wunsiedel, a pious and patriotic youth, but full of 
fanaticism and governed by vanity, embraced the criminal resolution of 
killing the Russian councillor, Augustus Von Kotzebue, who was suspected 
March 23 of endangering Germany's freedom and politic development 
1819. by conveying information to St. Petersburg ; he wished to 

rid the German nation from this " Russian spy," this " traitor to the 
country," He approached the unsuspecting man in Mannheim with 
a letter, and pierced him through with a stroke of a dagger as he was 
reading it. The attempt to kill himself was not successful. Sand, re- 
September covered from his wounds, ended his life on the scaffold. After 
1819. this followed the decrees of Carlbad, which restrained the 

freedom of the press by the censorship, established a court of investiga- 
tion in Mayence, for the suppression of " demagogic intrigues," interdicted 
the alliances of the BurschenscJiaft with their gymnasia, placed the univer- 
sities under the supervision of special government officials, and finally 
gave unconditional validity to the resolutions of the Diet for all govern- 
ments. Bounds were at the same time set to the democratical spirit of 
the south German provinces by the concluding act of Vienna. 

May 15, 1820. _. . ,.,,;, / ,, •, 

Prussia, which had been so long the nope and confidence ot 
all German patriots, now took the lead in the reactionary and unpopular 
measures. Men like Arndt, Jahn, &c., whose voices and example had 
had such influence in time of need, were now brought to judgment as 
favorers of demagogic intrigues, deprived of their offices, and watched by 
the police. From this time, the unity of Germany was looked upon as a 
dream ; he who expressed a wish of the sort made himself suspected of 
demagogic efforts. Every separate state was regarded as an independent 
whole, and governed without relation to the general interest of the coun- 
try ; and, although many excellent arrangements were adopted in the 
government administration of justice, and in the affairs of religion and edu- 
cation, little or nothing was done for arousing the feelings of nationality 
and patriotism. 



GREECE. 503 



Greece's struggle for liberty. 



§ 650. While the public energies of the nations of Europe were held in 
firm bonds by the Holy Alliance, the news of Greece's rise against the 
Turks produced great enthusiasm, and aroused a fresh political interest 
among the torpid people. Alexander Ypsilanti, a Moldavian noble in 
the military service of Russia, was the first who rose up in his country as 
a liberator, and published a call to his countrymen, which referred to the 
protection of Russia, to shake off the Turkish yoke. A society, Hetoeria, 
with widely-spread ramifications, the secret object of which was a separa- 
tion from Turkey, came to the aid of the project. In a short time, Morea 
(Peloponnesus), Livadia (Hellas), Thessaly, and the Greek islands, were 

,, , in arms. But the expected aid of Russia did not arrive. 

March, 1S21. „^.,,. , , ^ ,, , ,., „ 

VV illingly as the emperor Alexander would have lavored the 

movement, both from religious sympathy and political interest, the in- 
fluence of Metternich, who, at the Congress of Laybach, placed the insur- 
rection of the Greeks on a par with the simultaneous democratical move- 
ments in Italy and Spain, prevented any support being given to them. 
The Turks foamed with rage, and took a bloody vengeance. The Patriarch 
of Constantinople, the supreme head of the Greek Church, was torn from 
the high altar on Easter-day by the infidel Mahommedans, and hung up 
along with his bishops at the principal door of his churcli ; the greater 
number of the Greek families of the capital died by violence, or were 
obliged to wander forth as beggars into banishment. The sacred band 
of Greeks, under the conduct of Ypsilanti, succumbed to the 
' " ' superior power of the Turks in Wallachia, and were totally 
annihilated in the desperate battle of Dragaschan, where they fought with 
the heroic courage of a Leonidas. Ypsilanti fled to Austria, but was 
doomed to pine for years in a Hungarian fortress. The fall of these mag- 
nanimous warriors showed that they were animated by a different spirit 
from that of the Spanish and Italian champions of freedom. 

§ 651. A frightful national war now broke out in all quarters of 
Greece. In Morea, the wild and warlike Mainotes of the Taygetus rose 
up under the conduct of Mauromichali and Kolokrotoni, and the other in- 
habitants of Peloponnesus shortly after followed, restrained to a more 
systematic plan of warfare by Demetrius Ypsilanti, the brother of Alex- 
ander. At the same time, the Greeks in Livadia and the islands fought 
with glory and success ; their valor recalled to recollection the deeds of their 
ancestors, little of the Hellenic blood as may flow in the veins of the 
modern Greeks. Europe gazed in sympathy upon this war in the east, 
and hastened to collect money and troops by means of Philhellenic unions 
to support the courage of the warriors, who, in the beginning of the year 
1822, had united themselves into a republic under Ypsilanti and Mav- 
rokordato. The object was to support civilization and Christianity 



504 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

against savage barbarians. Whilst the princes of the Holy Alliance, 
from a regard for their ease, were exposing a Christian people to the 
attacks of infidel bands of murderers, crowds of foreign Philhellenists, 
under the conduct of Nermann and others, marched to the ancient birth- 
place of Christian civilization. The English poet, Byron, devoted his 
talents, his wealth, and his energy, to the affairs of Greece, 

April 19 1824. j v j cj y > 

' where the climate and exertion occasioned his death. 

Despite the dissentions and selfishness of the Greek leaders, their 
arms were generally successful till the June of 1825. At that period, 
the Porte obtained a powerful supporter in Mehemet Ali, who, as Pasha 
of Egypt, had destroyed the power of the Maraalukes, and established 
an army and government upon the .plan of those of Europe, by which 
means "Western civilization and Oriental despotism were placed in hor- 
rible conjunction. This man sent his son, Ibrahim, with a considerable 
army of mingled materials to Peloponnesus, on the business of the sultan. 
The small and disunited body of Greeks was unable to resist him ; one 
town after another fell into his hands ; the march of Ibrahim and his bru- 
tal troops proceeded onwards over blood, corpses, and burning houses. 
Peloponnesus and the coasts of Livadia were frightfully ravaged for two 
years, from the strong city of Tripolizza, which they had chosen as their 
point of support, whilst cabinets were in vain endeavoring to restrain the 
war by diplomatic negotiations. The fall of Missolonghi first produced 
a change in affairs. When that hardly-pressed town was unable 

April 22, 1826. ° -, p ■,. ,^ ,,•••,, . •, , • 

any longer to defend itself, the heroic inhabitants with their 
wives and children made a sally upon the beleaguring enemy ; the third 
part were slain, Missolonghi disappeared in flames, and all who remained 
in it perished beneath the ruins. "The cry of anger that passed through all 
Europe at this event, awakened the governments from their lethargy. 
December 1 § 652. A short time before this, the emperor Alexander 
1825. had descended to his grave, and as the elder brother Con- 

stantine had already renounced the throne, his brother Nicholas obtained 
the Russian sceptre, after the bloody suppression of a military conspiracy 
that was to have changed the government and the succession to the 
throne. In England, the rudder of state Avas intrusted to the skilful 
hands of the high-minded Canning, who, in the maturity of his life, had 
not forgotten the dreams of his youth or his enthusiasm for the liberation 
of Greece. In France, the government thought itself obliged to pay some 
attention to the loud clamors of the Philhellenists, especially as, at this 

time, the bloody destruction of the Janissaries in Constanti- 
"" ' " ' nople, by which 15,000 Mahommedans died a violent death, 
filled civilized Europe with horror at the inhumanity of the Turks. At 
the proposal of Canning, therefore, the three European powers, Russia, 
England, and France, concluded an alliance, by which they agreed to 
employ their common exertions to induce the Porte to allow the Greeks 



THE NEW ROMANTIC LITERATUEE. 505 

their liberty. A combined fleet appeared in the waters of the Morea, 
and demanded from Ibrahim the evacuation of the peninsula ; upon the 
October 20, rejection of this demand followed the battle of Navarino, 
1827. where the Turko-Egyptian fleet was annihilated by the Euro- 

pean. This decision came so quickly that the allied powers were aston- 
ished at the " unexpected event." The battle of Navarino consequently 
August 8, remained without results, and as, after Canning's death, the 
1827. English, who were anxious about their trade, showed them- 

selves more favorably disposed to the Porte, the resolute sultan Mahraud 
remained firm to his purpose of not giving the Greeks their liberty, and 
behaved so insolently to the Russians that they declared war against him. 
This roused the hopes of the Greeks. Whilst the forces of the Ottomans 
were marching into the lands of the Danube, Ibraham was at length 
compelled by the French fleet to evacuate the Morea, whereupon Capo 
d'Istria, from Corfu, was appointed president of the Greek state. The 
July, 1829. daring military achievements of the Russians, who, under 
September 14, Diebitsch (Sabalkanski), surmounted the Balkan, at length 
I'^^D. compelled the Porte, by the peace of Adrianople, to grant 

the Russians favorable conditions, and to acknowledge the independence 
of Greece. But as it was long before the question of boundaries could 
be settled, the war still continued for some time in Greece, during which 
time the admiral,, Miaulis, blew up the Greek fleet rather than allow it to 
fall into strange hands. At length, the three powers agreed in London to 
form a constitutional kingdom out of Morea, Livadia, a part of Thessaly, 
Euboea, and the Cyclades, over which (as Capo d'Istria had in the mean- 
time been murdered by the brothers Mauromichali) Otho I., of the royal 
house of Bavaria, was placed as king. Since then, Greece 
^' "" has striven to elevate herself to the position of a civilized 
state, the forms of which she has assumed, without however being able 
to free herself entirely from the conditions of barbarism and a life of 
plundei". At a later period, the Greeks, from national jea- 
lousy, drove away the German foreigners that had come in 
the train of the court, and thus deprived themselves, at the same time, 
of the supports of modern civilization. 

7. THE NEW ROMANTIC LITERATURE. 

§ 653. The years of the Holy Alliance were the flourishing period of 
romantic literature and art, the chief creators and supporters of which 
The Schle- were the brothers, Augustus William and Frederick Schle- 
gels. gelj the poet Novalis, and Ludwig Tieck. They quitted the 

Novalis. path of religious illumination and of political candor, and 

Ludwig Tieck. escaped to the ideas of the middle age and the religious con- 
templation of the East. The faith in miracles and the religious mysti- 
cism of an early period of Christianity, the love affairs and the sensual 

43 



506 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

religious worship of the departed days of chivalry, the sacred art of the 
middle ages, the flowery poetry of the East, the popular songs and the 
meditative world of fable of the distant past, permanently engaged their 
interest. It was for this reason that their views were directed to the 
forgotten productions of the literature of romance, whilst, following the 
example of Herder, they collected and elaborated the legends, traditions, 
and popular songs of German antiquity, and then sought to introduce 
the chivalrous poetry of the Italians and Spaniards into Germany by 
means of translations ; and drew the mythology, and the poetry founded 
upon it, of the East and of the Scandinavian North, within the circle of 
their activity. The profound Dante, the profuse Shakspeare, the Span- 
ish poet Calderon, Cervantes, and many others, were admirably transla- 
ted by the romanticists, and naturalized in Germany. The Schlegels, 
in particular, distinguished themselves by their critical and ajsthetical 
writings, by their intelligent researches in the region of the history of 
literature, by translations, and by references to the language, literature, 
and " wisdom " of the Indians. Tieck obtained his greatest fame by his 
elaboration of old popular legends and tales (Genoveva, Kaiser Octavi- 
anus, Fortunatus, &c.) ; and the prematurely deceased Francis Von 
Hardenburg (Novalis,) by his melancholy poems and poetical essays 
(" Bluthenstaub," " Spiritual Songs,"), and the unfinished romance, 
Henry of Ofterdingen. In the same spirit sang the lyric poets, Matthi- 
son, Chamisso, Max Von Schenkendorf, the romance writer Arnim, de 
la Motte Fouque, Clemens Brentano, Hoffmann, &c. The orientalist, 
Hammer-Purgstall, excited by the romanticists, undertook the transla- 
tion of the Arabian and Persian poets, and the great collective work, 
" Fundgruben des Orients ; " and Fr. Riickert, renowned as a lyric poet 
(" Harnessed Sonnets," " Eastern Roses,"), brought the art of translation 
and imitation to perfection (" Nal and Daraijanti," " Die Makamen des 
Harii'i"). The brothers Grimm, (Jacob and William), were excited by 
the romanticists to their successful inquiries into the old German lan- 
guage and literature, and to their collection of popular and domestic tales. 
At the same time, the romanticists elevated poetry and literature gene- 
rally to a loftier station, gave it dignity and nobleness, and awakened 
love and sensibility for the fine arts ; on the other hand, they afforded 
pernicious examples in regard to public morality and decency of life. 
An unbridled and restless life of wandering and travels, to which most of 
them gave themselves up without restraint, favored the sensual appetites 
and passions. Not misled by the romanticists, and treading in the path of 
Schiller, Theodore Korner, Ludwig Uhland, Moriz Arndt, H. Zschokke, 
Seume, and others, composed poetry ; and the lyric and dramatic wri- 
ters in the spirit of Aristophanes, like Augustus Von Platen ("The 
Romantic Oedipus," "The Fatal Fork"), paid homage to the spirit of 
progress. The party of the liberals and the great mass of the German 



THE JULY REVOLUTION OF PARIS. 507 

people took most pleasure in the freer, if less vigorous, poetry of the 
latter. 

8. THE JULY UEVOLUTION OF PARIS, AKD ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

§ 654. Charles X. proceeded in the path of reaction without regard to 
public opinion. The liberal ministry of Martignac had been obliged, 
since January, 1828, to yield to an ultra royalist one, under the presi- 
August 8, dentship of Polignac ; and when the Chambers, in their open- 
1829. ing address, expressed their discontent at the policy of the 

government, they were dissolved and a new election followed. In vain 
the men of the opposition re-appeared in increased numbers, and con- 
firmed the mistrust of the people in the new ministry. Charles X. would 

not learn wisdom. He vainly hoped that the military re- 
Mavie, 1830. •, . , , -r^ , , 1 . ■, , ,.. . 

nown which the r rench troops had gained about tins time m 

Africa, where, to revenge the insults offered by the Dey of Algiers to 
the ships and consul of France, they had taken possession of his capital, 
and planted the French banners upon the battlements of the 
old city of robbers, would produce a favorable feeling in 
the nation. Scarcely had the " Moniteur " published the three celebra- 
ted ordinances, by which the freedom of the press was sus- 
July 26. ' •/ i _ 

pended, the new Chambers dissolved, and the order of elec- 
tion of the next arbitrarily changed, before the July Revolution broke 
out, by which the people, after an heroic contest of three days, obtained 
their release from the royal house of Bourbon, and from the rule of the 
pi'iests. The deputies who were present in Paris estabhshed a pi'ovis- 
ional government on the 29th July, whilst the contest in the sti'eets was 
at the hottest, in which the banker Lafitte, Casimir Perier, Odillon-Bar- 
rot, and others, bore a part, until the constitutional party triumphed 
over the republican, and Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, was named 
regent of the empire. When it was too late, Charles X. offered to recal 
the obnoxious ordinances, and to summon a jwpular ministry ; but he 
was obliged for the third time to go into exile with his family, whilst his 
more sagacious relative, Louis Philippe, after he had sworn to observe 
the hastily revised charter, ascended the throne as king of the French. 
The restoration of the national colors, and the reestablishment of the 
National Guard, under the command of Lafayette, marked the commence- 
ment of the new citizen monarchy established by the people. Charles 
X. died in the ydar 1836, at Gorz. 

§ 655. The revolution of July occasioned the total fall of the Holy 
Alliance, which had already received a shock by the death of Alexander, 
and called forth a movement throughout all Europe which produced an 
important change in affairs. It is true that the government of the "citizen 
king " soon assumed a pacific attitude in i-egard to other states, and the 
liberals who had arrived at power in Paris preferred moderate and con- 



508 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

ciliatory modes of procedure to waging war, and attempted to win over 
all the moderate and undecided to the support of the existing system, by 
establishing the principle of " the y^sffe milieu;" but the tumult of the 
first storm was strong enouirh to give a severe shock to the artful struc- 
ture of the Viennese Congress. In Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, 
&c., insurrections broke out that could only be suppressed or composed 
after a two years' contest ; and though the influence of the absolute powers 
of the east — Russia, Austria, and Prussia — was strong enough to pre- 
serve or bring back the old system in most states, free opinions, from this 
time, acquired greater importance, and public opinion increased to a power 
that bade defiance to all efforts of " state police " and "■ bureaucracy." 
In the west of Europe, owing to the influence of England and France, 
constitutional government and tlie civil freedom which is allied to it 
maintained the preeminence. 

§ GoG. The Revolution in Belgium was the first consequence of 
the Parisian July days. The Congress of Vienna, without regard to 
religion, language, or national interest, had united the Flemish and Bra- 
bant provinces to the States- General of Holland, in one kingdom of the 
Netherlands. The Hollanders regarded themselves as the rulers ; they 
compelled the Belgians not only to share the gi'eat national debt and the 
high taxes, but attempted to force their own language and laws upon 
them, and placed the education of the Catholic people under the super- 
vision of Protestant courts. "When the press allowed itself to adopt a 
hostile tone against the government, the writers were proceeded against 
with fine, imprisonment, and banishment. Upon this, the French liberal 
party, which was struggling for a free political life, and which was in 
alliance with the chiefs of the Paris opposition, formed a confederacy with 
the Catholic ultramontane party, which demanded freedom of education, 
against the Dutch government, — which the king in his speech from the 
throne designated as " infamous." The dissatisfaction thus produced 
had already reached the highest pitch, when the news arrived in Brus- 
sels of the July events, and set the whole land in a flame. On the even- 
ing of the 25tli August, after the representation of the opera, " The' Mute 
of Portici," the mob destroyed the printing-house of a journal favorable 
to the interests of Holland, the palace of the minister of justice, the dwell- 
ing of the director of police, &c. To restrain any farther devastations on 
the part of the people, a civic guard and committee wei'e formed, till the 
radical and ultramontane parties united themselves in a National Con- 
gress, under the guidance of Potter. The example of the capital was 
followed, so that, in a short time, the standard of Brabant was waving 
over the whole of Belgium. An attack of the Dutch upon Brussels was 
repulsed, and the Belgian insurgents even marched against Antwerp, to 
deprive their detested neighbors of this town also. Upon this, the Dutch 
general, Chasse, retired into the strong citadel and fired upon the unfor- 



THE JULY REVOLUTION OF PARIS. 509 

tunate town for seven hours, with 300 cannon, by which a vast amount 
of goods of great value was destroyed. Irritated at this proceeding, the 
National Congress now declared the independence of Belgium, 
and the exclusion of the house of Orantre from the Belo-ian 
throne. During the continuance of the war between Belgium and Hol- 
land, the five great powers held a conference in London. It was here 
resolved, after long diplomatic negotiations, to separate Bel- 

J 11116. lool. , 

gium from Holland, and to arrange the boundaries in an 
equitable manner. . In accordance with this, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, 
who wasv related to the royal family of England, and who was shortly 
after united, by a second marriage, to a daughter of Louis Philippe, 
received the Belgian throne, and attempted to conciliate the liberals by 
granting a free representative constitution, and the Catholic clergy by the 
complete independence of the church of the state. It was in vain that 
the Hollanders attempted again to subject the rebels by force. Threatened 
and opposed by the French and English, they were compelled, despite 
December the bravery of their army and the courage of their sailors, to 
1832. desist from the contest. Belgium, on the other hand, flou- 

rished under the influence of free institutions and energetic industry. 

§ 657. The successful termination of the French and Belgian revolu- 
tions urged the Poles to an insurrection. Raised to a kingdom by the 
Congress of Vienna, and placed under the government of the emperor of 
Russia, Poland was in a better position than when subjected to the old 
anarchy. The constitution, with diets and a national armament, afforded 
the people a regulated freedom ; industry increased, literature flourished, 
passable roads facilitated intercourse ; but all these advantages, which, to 
say the truth, suffered much prejudice from the despotic character of the 
viceroy, Constantine, were not sufficient to prevent the Poles from che- 
rishing the thought of again revivifying their divided country ; and the 
hope that the French, after the revolution of July, would not neglect to 
hasten to the assistance of their old confederates, confirmed them in the 
belief that the moment for the regeneration of the old Poland was again 
come. It was six o'clock on the evening of the 20th Novem- 
ber, when twenty armed young men of the Cadet school, 
members of a widely-spread military conspiracy," rushed into the palace 
of the viceroy for the purpose of dispatching him, whilst other conspirators 
called the inhabitants of the capital to arms. It was only with ditficulty 
that the prince escaped the fate designed for him. He yielded to the 
storm, and retired from the country with his Russian soldiers and officials. 
A provisional government, with Czartoryski, Niemcewicz, General Chlo- 
piki, and others at its head, undertook the conduct of affixirs in Poland. 
Instead, however, of employing the newly -aroused military spirit and the 
fresh enthusiasm of the people in a spirited attack upon unprepared Rus- 
sia, the regency, which belonged to the aristocracy of Poland, chose the 

43* 



510 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

patli of negotiation, and placed their hopes upon the promises of French 
diplomatists. It made little diflPerence that Chlopiki was shortly after 
named dictator, and entrusted with the supreme command of military 
aiFairs ; and that the diet, which was hastily called together, invested the 
prince Radzivil with the most unlimited power; the irresolute aristocracy, 
discontented with the violence of the republican and democratic clubs, kept 
things in check, and paralysed every undertaking by hesitation and dis- 
sensions. Whilst the emperor of Russia ordered an army of 200,000 
January 25 i^ien to march into Poland, under the command of field-mar- 
1831. shal Diebitsch, the diet pronounced the dethronement of the 

house of Romanofl' in Poland, but rejected, from selfish motives, that 
which could alone save the country, the liberation of the peasants and the 
excitement of a popular war. What mattered it that the Polish army 
again gave the most splendid proofs of courage in the field, that Chlo[)iki 
and Skrzynecki fought like heroes, and that Dwernicki, who wished to 
excite Volhyniato insurrection, astonished the world by his daring retreat 
upon. the Austrian territory? When Diebitsch carried off the victory 
from the army of Skrzynecki, in the battle of Ostrolenka, 
^^ ' ' Poland, through dissension, party spirit, treachery, and the 
siren voices of French go-betweens, went rapidly to her downfall. Die- 
bitsch died of the cholera. His successor was the enterprising Paskewitsch 
(Eriwanski). He crossed the Prussian Vistula and approached the walls 
of Warsaw. The inhabitants of the capital, believing that the miscarriage 
of the revolution had been occasioned by treachery, gave the reins to 
their fury against the aristocrats and friends of the Russians, and slaugh- 
tered thirty of these unfortunates. Czartoryski, in whose 
° " ' hands the government had been placed, fled in horror to the 

camp of Dembinski. Krukowiecki was now named president of the 
government by the diet, with dictatorial power, and thus the supreme 
authority was placed in the hands of a man who was either a fool or a 
traitor. When Paskewitsch approached the capital, the dictator gave 
evidence of his cowardice and despair by the most contradictory orders 
and preposterous arrangements. The Polish army made a gallant resis- 
tance to the attacks of the enemy at Wola, the ancient place of election 
of the kings, and the heroic deeds of the fourth regiment have since been 
September celebrated in songs ; but after a storm of two days, Kruko- 
6, 7, 1831. wiecki surrendered Warsaw and Praga by capitulation, 
whereupon the government and the diet, with the troops that were still 
left, fled to the Prussian territory. Here the bold warriors were dis- 
armed, and detained till the complete subjection of Poland; they then 
obtained permission to return, under the assurance of an amnesty. But 
thousands among them rejected the grace of the emperor, and turned their 
backs upon their fatherland, preferring to eat the bread of aflliction upon 
free, if foreign ground, rather than to gaze quietly upon the gradual ex- 



THE JULY REVOLUTION OF PARIS. 511 

tinction of the nationality of their country. The sympathy of the Gei'man 
people, who received and entertained the unfortunates in their melancholy 
journey, was an alleviation of their misery. Severe punishments were 
inflicted upon the guilty in Poland, Lithuania, Volhynia : the mines of 
Siberia grew populous with the condemned. Poland then lost her con- 
stitution, her diet, and her state council, by the " organic statute," and 
was attached to the great Muscovite empire, Avith a separate government 
and administration of justice. Since then, Paskewitsch reigns as impe- 
rial lieutenant, with iron sceptre, in humbled Warsaw. The Poles had 
once more shown that they were capable of magnanimous, patriotic emo- 
tions, and of gallant deeds ; but not of a united effort or of noble self-' 
sacrifice. The emigrants, however, in vain attempted, in the sequel, to 
effect the restoration of their country by conspiracies and insurrections in 
Cracow, Gallicia, and Posen. Fresh persecutions, and at length, the in- 
corporation of the free state of Cracow with the Austrian empire (1846), 
were the consequences of their foolhardy attempts. 

§ 658. In Germany, also, the news of the July revolution called forth 
a mighty movement. The princes, anxious lest the well-known hanker- 
ing of the French for the boundary of the Rhine should be the occasion 
of a new war, saw Avith uneasiness the existing divisions between subjects 
and governments, and hastened to allay irritation and prevent a general 
movement, partly by reasonable concessions, and partly by the hasty 
recognition of successfully accomplished reforms. The insurrections in 
the kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony were appeased by granting liberal 
constitutions, and by abolishing oppressive abuses and restrictions ; in 
Brunswick, where the people destroyed the palace and compelled the 
tyrannical duke Charles to fly, his brother assumed the government, and 
conciliated the minds of his subjects by improving the constitution of the 
country. In Hesse-Cassel, the Elector, William II., was compelled by 
an insurrection to give the country a free constitution. But 
the hatred which the people shortly after displayed against 
the countess Reichenbach (Lessonitz), his wife, a woman of inferior 
birth, offended the Elector to that degree, that he raised his son, the elect- 
oral prince, to the co-regentship, and removed with his wife and treasures 
from Hesse. The freedom of the press was introduced in Baden, the 
liberals obtained the upper hand in the Chambers of southern Germany, 
and insisted upon alterations and reforms in the constitution and govern- 
ment. But their increasing audacity in speech and writing, which was 
May 27, particularly displayed at the Hambacher festival in Rhenish 

1832. Bavaria, soon brought about a reaction and restriction. The 

peaceful character of tlie July monarchy and the fall of Warsaw relieved 
the German governments from the apprehension that the liberal move- 
ments might be supported from abroad; and the incon- 

April O^ loOO. , _ Of 

siderate attempts of a few young madcaps, students, literary 



512 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

men, and political refugees, to disperse the Diet, and to produce a violent 
revolution by the conspiracy of Frankfurt, aided the cause of the reti'ogres- 
sive party. This foolish attempt and its lamentable result gave a deep 
wound to the cause of liberalism, and brought a severe persecution upon 
its chiefs and leaders. The guilty and the suspected were visited by 
numberless arrests and judicial examinations; prisons and fortresses were 
filled with political offenders ; numberless fugitives were wandering in 
France and Switzerland; the censorship was again employed with the 
greatest severity; the book trade Avatched, and the privileges of the Es- 
tates circumscribed. Thus again were the efforts of the progressive 
party frustrated by the violence and indiscreet zeal of some of its cham- 
pions. The governments obtained the most complete triumph ; but by 
the use they made of it, they outraged the people's sense of justice and 
insulted public opinion. This was especially the case, when, by the 
ascension of the throne of England by queen Victoria, the crown of 
Hanover fell, according to the prerogative of German princes, to her 
uncle, Ernest Augustus of Cumberland, who abolished the constitution 
which had been granted by his predecessors to the Estates, and restored 
the former arrangements. Undeterred by the opposition 

June, 183«. Til • 1* !• T/> 

that was displayed agamst this arbitrary proceeding irom 
every quarter, the king ordered an oath of obedience and 
homage to be tendered to all servants of the state ; and when seven pro- 
fessors of the Gottingen university, among them, Dahlmann, Gervinus, 
and the brothers Grimm, would not yield to the demand, they were 
deprived of their chairs, and some of them banished from the country ; 
when the assembled Estates were incompetent to pass resolutions from a 
deficiency of numbers, the absentees were replaced by the election of 
the minority. By these measures, a deep gulf was formed between the 
people and the government, and a profound dissatisfaction with the 
" police state " took possession of the nation. The existing government 
was attacked by means of the press, literature, and poetry, and every 
opposition to the state officials was saluted by the nation with joy. One 
single effort was visible in the midst of contests and divisions^ and was 
the " red thread" that ran through the whole public life of the people — 
the striving after national and political unity ; and this effort the Prus- 
sian government came forward to assist by establishing the Zollverein, 
the foundation-stone of German unity. 

§ G59. In Italy also, the July revolution occasioned some serious 
commotions. But the hopes of the patriots found an early grave. The 
insurrections in Bologna, Modena, and Parma, were soon suppressed by 
Austrian troops ; and the regents, who had been driven from the two 
latter places, were restored to their governments. In the States of the 
Church the papal troops, who were reinforced by bandits and convicts, were 
employed in keeping down the rebellious provinces. These men be- 



THE JULY REVOLUTION OF PARIS. 513 

Laved in sucli a way that it was necessary to call in the forces of Austria 
to protect the land against its own soldiers. To prevent the Austrians 
Febmarv 23 getting the whole poAver over Italy into their own hands, the 

1832. French seized upon Ancona by a coup de main, and held it 
for several yeai's. An attack upon Savoy, from Switzerland, undertaken 
by a troop of refugees under the command of the Polish general, Ramo- 
rino, with the purpose of overthrowing the Sardinian throne, and, in 
conjunction with " young Italy," of exciting the whole land to a revolu- 
tion, had a lamentable result. 

In Spain, the liberals, after the July revolution, again got the upper 
hand, not by their own strength, however, but in consequence of a quar- 
rel for the crown. King Ferdinand had allowed himself to be induc- 
ed by his fourth wife, Maria Christina, to abolish the Salic law which 
JIarch 29, prevails in all Bourbon states, and which excludes females 
1830. from succeeding to the throne, and thus to secure the in- 

October heritance of the crown to his daughter, Isabella, who was 

1830. born in the same year. This alteration displeased the apos- 

tolic party, which bad placed all its trust on Ferdinand's younger 
September 29, brother, Don Carlos. Scarcely therefore had the king closed 

1833. his eyes, before the absolutists (Carlists) called Don Carlos 
to the throne as Charles V., and excited a civil war. They found sup- 
port in the north, especially among the rude mountaineers of the 
October, Basque provinces. Intlamed by priests and monks, and led 
1833. by bold and enterprising chiefs (Zumalacarreguy, Cabrera), 
the warlike Basques drew the sword for an absolute king who sought 
for refuge among them. For the purpose of resisting them with success, 
the queen, Maria Christina, who had been appointed to the regency 
until the majority of her daughter Isabella, sought to win the party of 
the constitution and the liberals to her cause by again introducing the 
Cortes constitution, and permitting the fugitives and outlaws to return to 
their homes. In this manner, the contest for the throne took the shape 
of a civil war and a struggle of opinions. After many bloody battles, 
August 81 the " Christines" gained the upper hand. General Espar- 
1839. tero compelled the Carlist leader, Maroto, to lay down his 
arms by the treaty of Pergara, whereupon Don Carlos, with his family 
and several officers and priests, took refuge in France. In Spain itself, 
Espartero fell into a quarrel with the queen mother, which produced a 
fresh crop of party contests, alterations of the constitution, and intrigues 

of the palace. Espartero, created duke of Vittoria, was 
*^ ' ■ sufficiently powerful to effect the removal of Christina for 
some time, and to get the government into his own hands. But he was 
soon overthrown by general Narvaez, an adherent of the queen mother, 
and compelled to fly to England. After this, Christina, and 
' ' her daughter, when she came of age, carried on the govern- 
ment in entire accordance with the wishes of France. 



514 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

9. OVERTHROW OF THE THRONE OF JULY, AND THE LATEST 
EEVOLUTIONAKY TEMPESTS. 

a. THE TEARS OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL AGITATION. 

§ 660. France. — The July monarchy, erected upon the unstable 
foundation of the sovereignty of the people, was exposed to many attacks. 
Both the adherents of the Bourbons and of monarchy " by the grace of 
God" (Legitimists, Carlists), and the republicans, grumbled at the new 
system, and attempted to overthrow it. It was only the prosperous 
middle class, which, intent upon gain and the peaceable enjoyment of its 
earnings, could find its safety and object in a constitutional monarchy, 
that was content with the government of July ; and it was upon this 
class in especial that Louis Philippe leaned for support. But, as the 
king neglected to give the less wealthy class of citizens a share of politi- 
cal power by extending the suffrage, the number of his adherents was 
not great. Neither did the king understand how to win the hearts of the 
French by greatness of mind and noble actions. In the possession of 
enormous wealth, he made use of his lofty position for the constant in- 
crease of his property, and thereby incurred the reproach of selfishness, 
avarice, and cupidity. This reproach also attached more or less to his 
councillors, ministers, and officials, who were accused of covetousness and 
venality ; so that, in the eyes o^ the people, the stain of " corruption" 
infected the whole July government. The first hostilities against the 
citizen throne and the ministry of the '^ juste milieit" proceeded from 
the legitimists. But the hatred of the people against the Bourbons was 
Febraary 15, ^^^^^ ^^^ recent for their attempts to be successful. The erec- 

1831. tion of the white banner on the anniversary of the death 
of the due de Berri excited a disturbance, in consequence of which 
November *^^® archiepiscopal palace was destroyed. Just as little suc- 

1832. cess attended the attempt of the duchess of Berri to rouse the 
faithful Vendeans to arms. When she was arrested and the secret of a 
private marriage came to light, the romantic magic that had hitherto 
attached to the royal family gradually melted away. The legitimists, with 
the grey-haired poet, Chateaubriand, at their head, now gave up the 
hope of raising to the throne their favorite, the duke of Bordeaux 
(Chambord), whom they had bedecked with the ostentatious name of 
Henry V., and retired sullenly into the suburb of St. Germaine. 

The undertakings of the republicans were more perilous to the throne 
A. D. 1831. of July. After the public insurrections in Lyons and Paris 
A.D. 1832. had been suppressed by the military power, and their origi- 
A.D. 1834. nators and participators punished, they refrained from any 
further attempts by open violence, but made constant eftbrts to increase the 



THE LATEST POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS. 515 

number of their adherents by diffusing their opinions in journals, and by- 
means of secret societies. The " National," conducted by Armand 
Carrel, and, after his death in a duel, by Marrast, was the much perse- 
cuted and much punished organ of their party. But the republicans 
soon sepai'ated in differ^t directions. Whilst the moderate (honest) 
republicans onh"^ sought to attack the existing government, and aimed at 
revolutionizing the affairs of state, others (like Proudhon) declared pro- 
perty to be robbery, and threatened war to all who were in possession of 
anything ; or (like Louis Blanc) they tlattered the self-love and self- 
respect of the working-classes by an over-estimate of their functions 
and importance, preached up the equality of capital and labor, and 
demanded better payment and greater security to the latter from the state. 
These men sought to revolutionize social relations, and to reduce to prac- 
tice the systems of Socialism and Communism, devised by a few vision- 
aries and men of perverted intellects. Without any conception of the 
vast machinery of human intercourse, they applied to society the petty 
measure of the workshop and the club. Liberty, equality, fraternity, 
were their watchwords ; and hatred to the bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, mid- 
dle class,) the essence of their doctrine. These Communistic and Social 
ideas spread and increased ; shrouded in the veil of the forbidden and the 
mysterious, they seemed to narrow minds and stunted natures the depth 
of wisdom, the anchor of salvation from poverty and wretchedness. 
Influenced by the notion that the French government was only held 
together by the skill and dexterity of its chief, the members of the secret 
union sought the life of the king, that they might proclaim a republic in 
the moment of confusion, and then proceed at once with their social re- 
forms. Eight attempts at assassination were made upon Louis Philippe, 
from the whole of which he escaped with wonderful good fortune. The 
most dreadful of these was that made in the Boulevards, on 
the celebi-ation of the July days, 1835, by the Corsican, Fies- 
chi, by means of the so-called infernal machine, by which twenty-one 
people who were near the king, and, among others, the grey-haired mar- 
shal Mortier, lost their lives. Fieschi and his two confederates died by 
the guillotine ; but their death did not deter others from similar attempts. 
Restrictions of the press, of the privilege of forming unions, and of per- 
sonal liberty, were the result of each of these designs. It was a hard 
fate for Louis Philippe that his eldest son, the beloved duke 

July 13, 1842. „ ^ . ..,,.-, , , ^ ,, ^ 

of Orleans, met with his death by a fall from his carriage. 
§ G61, In the second half of the fifth decennium, all the States of 
Europe were powerfully excited by events of varied character. In Italy, 
Pope Pius IX. took the lead of all other princes by his timely reforms, 
and again made the papacy the political centre of the country. He gave 
greater freedom to the press, improved the affairs of government and the 
administration of justice, gave the city of Rome a liberal municipal 



516 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

government, and took preparatory measures for a confederation of the 
Italian States. A mighty enthusiasm seized upon the excitable Italians, 
and fresh hopes sprang up in the bosoms of the patriots. Sicily raised 
January, the standard of independence, and commenced a fierce war 

1848. against its oppressor ; the king of Naples sought to appease 

the threatened insurrection of his subjects by giving them a constitution, 
and thus obliged the other princes to take a similar steji. Archduke 
Leopold of Tuscany, and Charles Albert of Sardinia, followed his ex- 
ample. The duke of Modena, a zealous defender of the divine right of 
princes, withdrew himself from the hatred of his people by flight ; and 
December IS i" Parma, the throne became vacant by the death of the 
1847. duchess Maria Louisa, the little-loved and little-respected 

wddow of Napoleon. These events filled the Italians with the hope of 
national unity and civil freedom. Only two powers, a spiritual and a 
secular, seemed to stand in the way of this object — the Jesuits and the 
Austrians. The fiery hate of the Italians was consequently directed 
against both. Vivas for Gioberti, the enemy of the Jesuits, and " Death 
to the Germans," against Austria, were mingled with the shouts for Tio 
Nono. 

In Germany, the opposition between the people and the governments 
had risen to the uttermost. The polite literature of " young Germany ; " 
the stirring poetry of Ilervvegh, Hoffman Von Fallerslcben, and other 
singers of political freedom ; the daring daily pi'ess ; the freethinking and 
anti-church Avritings of young philosophers and theologians ; the dis- 
courses and doctrines of the "friends of light " in the Protestant Church, 
and of the " German Catholics " in the Catholic — all these spiritual striv- 
ings betrayed the profound discontent of a large portion of the German 
people with the existing conditions of State and Church, and their aver- 
sion to the system retained and defended by the governments. Frederick 
AVilliam IV., who, since 1840, had borne the crown of Prussia, a prince 
of high accomplishments and active mind, deemed himself obliged to make 
some concessions to the spirit of the age. He threw open the courts of 
justice, and permitted oral pleadings ; he diminished ecclesiastical 
restraints by an edict of toleration ; and by the patent of the 
3d of February, he summoned the " United Estates " to a Diet 
in Berlin. It was here that, despite all the restrictions contained in the 
patent, so violent an opposition was displayed, former promises were so 
emphatically referred to, the righteous claims of a civilized nation to 
liberty of the press and the other privileges of a free state, were so elo- 
quently urged, that the old system of government appeared no longer 
tenable. The nation followed with pride the proceedings of an assembly 
which displayed such splendid powers of oratory and such a fulness of 
intelligence and judgment. Whilst the educated and wealthy were follow- 
ing with intense interest these inward struggles in the region of Church 



THE LATEST POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS. 517 

and State, and looking with anxiety on the disturbances in the trading 
world, where a succession of bankruptcies had deprived thousands of their 
property, the cry of famine sounded in the huts of the starving, who, in 
the increasing dearness of provisions, were unable to supply their neces- 
sities. The intelligence of the fearful distress which, in Upper Silesia, 
had engendered pestilence, and in many trading and manufacturing places 
had produced scenes of Irish misery, together with the exciting literature 
in the hands of the lower classes, and the suffering that was everywhere 
prevalent, produced a vast irritation, which at length burst forth in insur- 
rections in Stuttgardt, Munich, and other towns. It is true that these 
were suppressed by the military and the police, and the benevolence of the 
wealthy and an abundant harvest soon put an end to the temporary dis- 
tress ; but the increasing poverty, and the great inequality in property 
and in the enjoyments of life, were now for the first time revealed in 
their full extent. Men gazed into the abyss of misery and wretchedness 
in which the lower classes were found. The irritation and discontent 
thus excited against the political arrangements, to which the whole of 
the mischief was ascribed, was increased to the highest pitch by the in- 
telligence that the old king, Louis of Bavaria, had been entangled in the 
snares of a Spanish dancer, Lola Montez, and had allowed himself to be 
led by her into acts of folly and enormous extravagance. The ultramon- 
tane party, which had ruled tlie king and the country for years, quar- 
relled with this courtesan, who had been created countess of Landsfeldt, 
and suddenly found itself threatened with loss of power. The ministry 
of Abel and the heads of the ultramontane party in the universities were 
dismissed. This occasioned a commotion among the Bavarian people ; 
and when the king, indignant that the students attached themselves to the 
ultramontane party, and did not show the respect he required to the in- 
solent dancer, ordered the university of Munich to be closed, and com- 
manded the students to leave the place, an insurrection broke out, by 
which Louis found himself obliged to recal the suspension, and to get rid 
of the countess. 

About this time there prevailed a great enmity in Switzerland be- 
tween the Catholics and Protestants, and the conservatives and radicals. 
In the Aargau, the radical government had abolished the eight monas- 
teries of the country as " meeting-places of rebellion," and confiscated 
their property. The protests of the seven Catholic cantons (Schwytz, 
Uri, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Freiburg, Valais,) produced no effect 
at the Diet. The division was increased when the ultramontane govern- 
ment of Lucerne, with the aid of the people of the canton, called in the 
Jesuits to superintend the education of the youth, and repulsed the radi- 
cals, who wished to produce a revolution by means of a volunteer expe- 
dition. The contest now resolved itself into a desperate 
' ' struggle between Jesuitism and radicalism. The seven 
44 



518 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Catholic cantons demanded punishment of the volunteers, and legal pro- 
tection against similar undertakings, and the restoration of the monas- 
teries of the Aargau ; and when their demands were not acceded to, 
formed a " special confederation " for mutual defence against attacks from 
within and without. The radicals, who, by means of the '•' Putsche," had 
a majority in the Diet at Vaud, Geneva, and other places, procured a 
resolution which dissolved the special confederation, as incompatible with 

T 1 ^o.K ^lie government of the union, and banished the Jesuits. As 
July, 1847. ° . 

the members of the special confederation refused submission 

to the decisions of the Diet, the sword became the arbiter. Contrary 

to expectation, the struggle was soon over. A confederate army, under 

November 4 I^ufour, subdued Freiburg and Lucerne with little resistance, 

whereupon the other cantons freely submitted. They were 
December 1. , ,. , ^ i o i , % , . , i -r • 

obliged to renounce the honderbund, to banish the Jesuits, to 

alter the cantonal government, and to pay the expenses of the war. When 

too late, the three great powers, Austria, France, and Prussia, offered 

their mediation. The French found the Sonderbund already dissolved ; 

and the discovery that the minister, Guizot, took the part of the Jesuits, 

increased the dissatisfoction in France with the July government. The 

Swiss took advantage of circumstances to remodel their constitution, and 

to create a stronger federative government. 

h. THE PARIS REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

§ 662. About the time that the events in Italy and Switzerland were 
exciting a strong feeling in France, and the policy of Guizot was giving 
great offence to the liberals, an action for bribery against General Cubieres 
and the minister, Teste, and the dreadful murder of the duchess of Praslin 
in her bed-chamber by her own husband, revealed the total want of 
morality in the upper classes that were grouped around the throne of 
July. The feeling that a system of government founded upon such rotten 
supports could not endure, became more and more prevalent among the 
nation ; and the call for elective reform, by which it hoped to infuse fresh 
vigor into the Chamber and the government, became the watchword of 
the day. Reform banquets were arranged in all corners of the land, in 
which the sins of the existing government were mercilessly exposed in 
daring speeches and toasts. The government not only prohibited this 
reform festival, but censure was cast in the speech from the throne on a 
movement that was excited by blind or hostile passions. Despite the 
prohibition, the chiefs of the opposition in the Chambers, and some of 
the leaders of the liberals and moderate republicans, proceeded with their 
preparations for a reform banquet, and published a programme of the 
procession and the arrangement of the dinner; when, however, the 
government adopted military measures to ensure respect to its orders, the 
greater number of the arrangers of the festival desisted from their pur- 



THE LATEST POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS. 519 

pose, and the members of the Left (opposition) resolved to bring forwai'd 
a motion in the next session for impeaching the ministry for injuring the 
constitution. 

But the people were already too much excited to be pacified by such 
a measure as this. Crowds of artisans, men in blouses, students, and 
the refuse of the streets, paraded through the squares and thoroughfares 
of the capital, with the cry of "Reform!" and " Down with Guizot ! " 
" Their numbers increased from hour to hour ; the military acted with 
forbearance, the police was no match for the multitude ; in some 
streets, barricades were erected and maintained. The contest had con- 
tinued for two days with increasing bitterness, when the king dismissed 
Febraaiy 22, the ministry of Guizot and promised reform. This news 
^^- occasioned unspeakable pleasure among the excited populace. 

The crowds marched through the streets with songs and shouts of joy, 
the barricades disappeared, and the houses were illuminated. At this 
point it happened that a troop of people marched through the Boule- 
vards, about ten o'clock, with banners and torches. They halted before 
the foreign office, and demanded the illumination of the house. At this 
moment a shot was heard, and occasioned a belief, among the military 
posted in the building, that they were attacked. A volley was suddenly 
fired upon the crowd, fifty-two of whom fell to the ground either killed 
or wounded. An indescribable fury took possession of the people. A 
bier was covered with dead bodies, and paraded through the streets of 
the city with torches, in the midst of the cries, " To arms ! " " We are 
slaughtered ! " The alarm-bell was sounded at midnight, and by the morn- 
ing of the 24th of February, the whole of Pai-is was' closed up with bar- 
ricades. Victory, after a violent contest, inclined to the side of the peo- 
ple. Louis Philippe abdicated in favor of his grandson, the count of 
Paris, and fled with his wife to England, where the other members of 
his family also arrived by different ways and after many perils. Here- 
upon, a republican government was established in Paris, under the pre- 
sidentship of the old Dupont de I'Eure, and in Avhich the poet Lamar- 
tine, Ledru-Rollin, the leader of the Left, Arago, Gamier-Pages, and 
the* socialist Louis Blanc had a share. 

But the new form of government did not bring the anticipated happi- 
ness. The intoxication of the republican festival, with its joyous feasts 
and consecration of banners, and the enthusiasm for the watchwords, 
" liberty, equality, fraternity," passed away, and the sober practical life 
brought with it many difficulties. As the Revolution was the work of 
the laboring classes, it was necessary to give some thoughts to their ele- 
vation and improvement. National workshops were established, where 
the unemployed were to find occupation and support. It was now that 
the utter instability of Socialism became apparent. The expenses of the 
state rose incredibly, and the number of paupers increased daily. It 



520 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

was soon clear to every one that such a system must, in a short time, lead 
to the ruin of the state, the impoverishment of those who possessed any 
thing, and the destruction of civilization. Accordingly, when a constituent 
National Assembly, elected by the voices of the whole people, met together 
in May, one of its first measures was to close these shops and to with- 
draw the assistance of the state from the workmen. Upon this, the work- 
men attempted a new revolution, for the purpose of giving the supreme 
power to the fourth estate. This led to the dreadful scenes of June, 
when the supporters of the " red republic " disgraced themselves by 
deeds of savage brutality. They murdered general Brea and the arch- 
bishop of Paris, and filled the barricades with the dead bodies of their 
opponents. Horrified at this barbarity, the National Assembly .invested 
general Cavaignac with dictatorial power. Cavaignac defeated the rebels, 
had crowds of them arrested and deported, and put Paris under mili- 
tary law. Protected by these measures, the Assembly then completed 
the republican government with a single Chamber, and a president, who 
was to be elected every four years. It would Avillingly have given the 
majority of votes, also, to general Cavaignac at the election of president ; 
but the people, dazzled by the lustre of the imperial name, chose Louis 
Bonaparte, the same nephew of Napoleon who had before twice attempted 
to overthrow the government of Louis Philippe by insurrections, and 
who had paid the penalty of his folly by long imprisonments. 

§ 6G3. The news of the Paris revolution of February occasioned a 
violent shock all over Europe. Popular commotions took place in Ger- 
many, Hungary, Italy, and other places, which, in extent and violence, 
far surpassed all previous disturbances. A propaganda, which had its 
seat and centre in Paris, stirred the revolutionary fire, and diffused re- 
publican ideas, with a tincture of Communism and Socialism, as the 
means of exciting the lower classes. The first effects displayed them- 
selves in Baden. The active political life which has always distinguished 
the Grand Duchy, appeared to give it the right of marching foremost 
with the banner of progress and reform. Urgent petitions, tumultuously 
presented to the Estates of the country just then assembled, demanded 
freedom of the press, juries, a militia under freely elected leaders, and a 
German parliament, as a popular house, by the side of the Diet. The 
Baden government not only granted these demands so far as laid in its 
power, but even adopted other conciliatory measures. The example 
of Baden acted upon the other states of Germany. The same demands 
were gradually made every where, and yielded to, and others joined with 
them. In Wirtembei'g, Saxony, and other states, the heads of the liberal 
opposition were summoned to the ministry and the reins of government 
placed in their hands. But the Austrian empire suffered the greatest 
convulsions. An insurrection in Vienna, occasioned by some 
students and young rioters, and supported by the rabble, had 



THE LATEST REVOLUTIONS. - 521 

such unexpected success that prince Metternich laid down his exalted 
office, and sought refuge as a grey-headed fugitive in England. Upon 
this the old system was dissolved, and a state of lawlessness took posses- 
sion of the capital. The freedom of the press soon produced a revolu- 
tionary daily literature ; the right of assembly was made use of for form- 
ing tumultuous mobs and democratic clubs ; the great number of unem- 
ployed workmen facilitated the schemes of the revolutionary party. Thus 
it happened, that, by the activity of the democrats, who streamed together 
into Vienna from all quarters, insurrections and street fights were 

-. crowded upon each other. The emperor retired, with his 

May. '■ ' ' 

court, to Innspruck ; and only returned to his capital when the 
, Diet, which had in the mean time been chosen by universal 

suffrage, assembled, and required him by pressing messages 
to resume his seat in Vienna. 

Berlin had its March days as well as the imperial city. After long 
hesitation, the Prussian government at length consented to freedom of 
-. y the press and other reforms, and held out a prospect of a 

revolution in the relations of the German confederation. 

But as hostile encounters had, for several days past, taken place between 

the military and the peoj^le, these concessions did not restore tranquillity ; 

the removal of the troops and the formation of a militia were demanded. 

Poles and other foreign agitators increased the hatred and excitement by 

HT 1, -o inflammatory discourses. The assemblies in front of the 
March 18. i • , i , 

palace uicreased, and the threats against the soldiery became 

constantly louder. A division of infantry now marched out of the palace, 
to drive back the increasing masses. Two shots were fired, by whom or 
from which party is uncertain. They gave the signal for a desperate 
street battle of fourteen hours. On the morning of the 19th of March, 
the contest was yet undecided, although most of the barricades had been 
taken or destroyed by the courage of the soldiers and by the effects of the 
grape-shot. The king at length gave command for the reti'eat of the 
military, dismissed the ministry, and consented to the formation of a 
militia for the defence of the city and the guard of the palace. An un- 
conditional amnesty, which was shortly after announced, and which was 
imitated in the other states of Germany, freed from punishment all those 
condemned for political crimes or offences, and permitted the return of 

fugitives : and three days later, the kinj: promised in a pro- 
March 21. o ' J ■! :d r L 

clamation, and during a solemn procession through the city, 
that he would place himself as constitutional king at the head of a free 
and united Germany. A constituent National Assembly, elected by 
universal suffrage, undertook, a few weeks later, the great work of fram- 
ing a representative constitution for the Prussian monarchy. 

§ 664. In the mean time, a mighty revolution had taken place in all 
the German states. The Diet had experienced an increase of liberal 

. 44* 



522 . THE LATEST PERIOD. 

members, and seventeen trustworthy men were commissioned to design a 

new constitution. In Bavaria, king Louis gave way before 
Mircli 20 

public opinion, and resigned tlie government to the crown 

prince, Maximilian ; a similar change took place in Hesse-Darmstadt. 
In Hanover, Kur-Hesse, and tlie greater number of states, the often-per- 
secuted leaders of the liberals were now called to the ministry, and re- 
forms were introduced in a democratic spirit and with destructive haste. 
But the movement soon became so powerful that reforms were no longer 
sufficient, and, here and there, the path of revolution was entered upon. 
In some neighborhoods, the peasants drove away the stewards, destroyed 
the land and tithe registers, and the seats of the landlords. It was not 
sufficient for the lovers of radical reform that the parliament of Frank- 
furt-on-the-Main, which assembled by its own authority in the beginning 
of April, laid down the principle of the sovereignty of the people, and 
embraced the resolution that a freely elected National Assembly should 
prepare a new constitution for collective Germany, and that a perpetual 
committee of fifty should watch over the strict execution of this resolu- 
tion on the part of the government ; a radical party, with Hecker, Struve, 
and others at its head, called the people to arms in the upper part of 
Baden, for the purpose of establishing a German republic. The republi- 
can arms, however, made little progress. After a few expeditions, in 
which the union general, Frederick Von Gagern, lost his life, the insur- 
rection was quelled and the leaders obliged to fly. 

On the 18th of May, the sittings of the National Assembly, which was 
to frame a constitution, were opened. The assembly in the church of 
St. Paul in Frankfurt, distinguished by its talent and eloquence, was 
a worthy expression of German opinion and civilization. One of the 
first acts of the Frankfurt parliament was to set aside the Diet, and 
establish a new central power. After some sharp parliamentary con- 
tests, in which the " bold grasp" of the president, Henry Von Gagern, 
determined the result, it was finally arranged that the National Assembly 
should choose an irresponsible regent, who was then to surround himself 
■with a responsible ministry. The election, which took place on the 29tli 
of June, was decided in favor of arcliduke John of Austria, 
who, after his entrance into Frankfurt, received from the 
hands of the president of the Diet the power exercised by that body. 

§ GG5. Not less violent were the convulsions and mutations produced 
in Italy by the revolution of February. In Sicily, the war against 
Naples was continued for upwards of a year with great vigor and perse- 
verance, without, however, the unfortunate island being able to attain its 
asserted independence. The king of Naples, strong in his mercenary 
Swiss troops, reduced the Sicilians to submission, and then destroj'cd by 
violence the constitutional government in Naples, which he had granted 
in a moment of necessity. 



THE LATEST REVOLUTIONS. 523 

In Rome, the movement soon became too powerful for the weak Pope, 
Pius IX., to control. It was in vain that he promised a constitutional 
government to the Ecclesiastical State, and summoned an assembly of the 
Estates to the capital. His ministei*, Eossi, was killed by the thrust of a 
i^ovember 15, dagger in the throat on the steps of the House of Assembly, 

1848. after which the democrats took the whole power into their 
own hands. The pope, filled with terror, fled in disguise to Gaiita, and 
Febraary, relinquished the eternal city to the populace and the volun- 

1849. teers, who now established the Roman republic and seized 
upon the property of the church. Mazzini, the energetic chief of Young 
Italy, and Garibaldi, the daring leader of the volunteers, ruled in Rome. 
The pope now addressed himself to the protecting powers of the Church, 
and succeeded so far that a French army, under the command of General 
Oudinot, marched to the walls of Rome, and demanded the restoration of 
the former system. When this was refused, the French proceeded to lay 
siege to the city, but encountered so fierce a resistance, that it was only 
after weeks of sanguinary attacks and encounters that they got possession 
I , „ ,o of the place. The republicans sought for safety in flijiht ; 

Julys, 1849. T , 1, n 

and the old state of things gradually came back under the 
protection of bayonets. 

In Tuscany, also, the democrats gained the upper hand for a short 
time, and compelled the Grand Duke to take flight ; but the republican 
government lasted but a few weeks. 

The most remarkable revolution in affairs took place in Upper Italy. 

In IMilan and Venice, the Austrian garrisons were driven out 
March, 1848. , , . '. ^ n ■, 

by popular msurrections and street-nghts, whereupon the 

standard of independence was raised throughout the Avhole of Lombardy. 
This filled the king, Charles Albert of Sardinia, with the hope of making 
himself master of the Lombard- Venetian kingdom. He declared war 
against Austria; and being supported in the first moments of enthusiasm 
and surprise by numerous Italian volunteers, he drove back the enemy 
to the northern frontier of Italy. But the state of affairs soon changed. 
On the 25th of July, field-marshal Radetzky, who was eighty-six years 
of age, gained a victory at Custozza, which was followed by the recon- 
quest of Milan and the whole of Lombardy. The king of Sardinia fled 
during the night to his own dominions, and concluded a truce with the 
victors. Urged on by the democrats, Charles Albert again tried the for- 
March 20-24 tune of arms in the following spring. But the old Radetzky's 
1849. campaign, of four days on the Tessino and near Novara 

brought the enterprise to a rapid termination, and rendered abortive the 
hopes of the Italian patriots. Charles Albert, despairing of success, ab- 
dicated his throne in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel, and fled by secret 
paths from the land of his fothers, till he found a refuge in Portugal, 
where he shortly after died. The young king then concluded a disad- 
vantageous peace with Austria. 



524 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Venice, rendered impregnable by its position, ■withstood for some 

months longer the besieging army of Austrians, till dissensions within 

and sufferings without gave back the renowned city of the 
Au"ixst 25. o o •/ 

" " ' lagunes to its ancient possessors. Things now everywhere 

returned to their former state, but the honor of Italy had been redeeme(J 

by the struggle. 

§ G66. In the mean time, Germany and Hungary experienced still 
more violent revolutionary storms and convulsions. Whilst the constituent 
National Assembly was consulting in Frankfurt over the new confederate 
constitution, a sanguinary national war was going on in Schleswic-Iiolstein 
against Denmark. Supported by a good old settlement, according to 
which the duchies Schleswic-Holstein were to remain united, and to descend 
as a heritage to the male line of the princely house of Oldenburg only, the 
sturdy inhabitants of these duchies wished, upon the approaching extinc- 
tion of the royal family of Denmark, to be united to their German rela- 
tions under the legitimate and native duke of Augustenburg. This hope 
the king of Denmark, incited by the strong Danish party, had 

' ' ' destroyed by the "public letter," in which he announced the 
indissoluble connection of Schleswic with Denmark and the undisturbed 
integrity of the Danish monarchy. When, in consequence of the Febru- 
ary revolution, a mighty movement was communicated to all nations, the 
duchies also thought that they must gain their rights by their own 
strength. Trusting to the assistance of Germany, which had been pro- 
mised to them in many addresses, they erected a provisional government 
till their legitimate position should be secured. The central government 
of Frankfurt recognized their right, and appointed a lieutenancy. This 
was the signal for war. The German people interested themselves for 
the land attacked by the Danes. Volunteers, among whom were many 
students and promising youths, perilled life and health in the unequal 
contest; the German confederate troops, under the command of Prussia, 
cleared Schleswic of the Danes. But the strife was rendered unequal 
by the want of a German fleet, and the maritime trade of the north suf- 
fered much loss and disturbance. This circumstance, and the threatening 
attitude of Russia and England, operated in favor of the Danes ; so that 
the Prussian government, which had committed the management of the 
Schleswic-Holstein question to the central authority of Germany, entered 
into diplomatic negotiations, and concluded the not very creditable truce 
Aucnist26 of Malmij. When this truce, after long and violent opposi- 
1848. tion, was sanctioned by the National Assembly at Frankfurt, 

the German republican party, which had long been dissatisfied with the 
prudent moderation of the parliament, made this decision a pretext for 
attem])ting to disperse the assembly in the church of St. Paul by means 
of an insurrection and street-fight, and then to bring about a revolution 
and a republic. The project was frustrated by calling in the confederate 
troops ; but the frightful murder of two members of the parliament, Auers- 



THE LATEST REVOLUTIONS. , 525 

wald and Liclmowsky, in the Bornheimer wood, by the mob, 
' afforded a fearful proof of the height to which rudeness and 
barbarism had ah-eady risen among the irritated populace. 

§ 6G7. This barbarism shortly afterwards displayed itself in the Austrian 
empire by two deeds not less horrible. The Hungarians, who had for 
some time past been excited against Austria by Magyar agitators, strove 
to obtain national independence. The kingdom of Hungary was to have 
its own government and a separate political existence, totally indepen- 
dent of the imperial government in Vienna, and to shai'e neither in the 
military system, the national debt or the finance, tax, or trade legislation 
of the rest of the empire. These efforts of the Magyai's, by which the 
kingdom of Hungary was to have retained' merely a "personal union" 
with the Austrian empire, were now developed Avith greater energy, but 
encountered a vehement resistance, not in Vienna alone, but among the 
Slavish races, Croats, Slavonians, Servians, &c., which were united with 
the Magyars in the Hungarian kingdom. Jellachich, Ban of Ci'oatia, 
took the field against the Magyars ; his undertaking met with secret 
encoui-agement from the court and ministry. This excited the rage of 
the Magyars to such a height, that the furious mob put the imperial com- 
October 3, missioner, Lamberg, to a friglitful death upon the bridge of 
1848. Buda-Pesth. This deed called forth an imperial war mani- 

festo, in consequence of which a portion of the Austrian army received 
orders to march upon Hungary. But the Viennese democrats, who saw 
their own cause in the insurrection in Hungary, prevented the march, 
and excited a rebellion in the capital that surpassed in violence and im- 
portance all that had preceded it. A crowd of people, furious with Latour, 
the minister of war, who had had communications with Jellachich, forced 
their way into the war-office and killed the unfortunate man with blows 

of hammers and thrusts of pikes. This was the commence- 
October 6. c i tt- /-^ i i i . i i 

ment oi the Vienna October days, the most violent catastrophe 

of this deeply-moved time. Horrified at the fierce proceedings of the 

aroused masses, the king again left the capital and retired to Olmiitz in 

Moravia. Thence he issued his commands to prince Windischgratz, who, 

a few months before, had displayed his vigor and resolution 
June. , , . . ^ oi • 1 • • • 

by the energetic suppression or a Slavish insurrection in 

Prague, to reduce the insurgent capital to submission. Thus commenced 
the memorable siege and storm of Vienna. For three weeks, the demo- 
crats, who were supported by a licentious press, by clubs, and public 
speeches, defended themselves against the besieging troops. Volunteers 
and democratic leaders, united together from all parts in the capital, kept 
alive the spirit of contest. At length, the military superiority of the 
army carried off the victory. The town was taken by storm and put 
under martial law ; and the leaders and promoters of the revolutionary 
movement severely punished. Many found their death from what, in 
military law, is called " powder and lead." Among these was Eobert 



526 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

Blum, a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly, and chief speaker 
of the " Left." He had taken a share in the struggle ; his character as 
representative of the people could not save him from the iron severity of 
the general ; the German democrats regarded him as the martyr of liberty, 
and celebrated a general funeral solemnity. The Austrian legislative 
National Assembly was removed from Vienna to Kremsier in Moravia. 
§ GG8. These proceedings, and the violent contest that sprang up 
in Hungary, when AVindischgratz, with the proud consciousness of a 
victor, led the Austrian army against Pesth, confirmed the majority of 
the Frankfurt parliament in the persuasion that it would be advantageous, 
as well for the Germans as the Austi'ian confederacy, if each were sepa- 
rately to erect its new system of government upon a liberal basis, and 
then to conclude farther federative relations with a trade and customs 
le2;islation common to both. Prussia was to be at the head of the Ger- 
man union. This project found its most decided supporter in the presi- 
dent, Henry Von Gagern, who, for the purpose of carrying out the 
scheme more effectually, assumed in December the presidentship of the 
imperial ministry. The plan, however, encountered the greatest opposi- 
tion from the Austrian delegates, who discovered in it the exclusion of 
Austria from Germany ; from the Catholics, who feared the preponde- 
rance of Protestant Prussia ; and from the republicans, who saw, in a 
powerful hereditary monarchy, an insuperable obstacle to the realization 
of their principles, and who were irritated with the Prussian government 
on account of the dissolution of the constituent imjserial assembly in Ber- 
lin. The king of Prussia had long been a witness of the senseless pro- 
ceedings of the democrats ; he had repeatedly changed his ministry in 
accordance with their wishes, he had offered no impediment to the debates 
of the Diet where the democratic party was in a majority, he had surren- 
dered the capital to the defence of the militia. But when the presump- 
tion of the populace, who were kept in a constant state of fermentation by 
foreign and native agitators, by placards on the walls, and by public 
orators, exceeded all bounds ; when the popular unions ruled the city ; 
when crowds of noisy rioters surrounded the National Assembly, and 
exercised an influence upon the course of the debates by intimidation, 
the king at length resolved to put an end to these proceedings. The new 
Brandenburg- ManteufFel ministry adjourned the National Assembly, and 
removed the next sitting to the town of Brandenburg ; and when a con- 
siderable number of the members refused obedience to the command, and 
continued their meetings in Berlin, despite the state of Avar with which 
N vember *^^ ^^^^ ^^'^^ threatened, and, at length, when driven out by 
and December, the military, declared the levying of taxes to be contrary to 
^^^^' law, the dissolution took place. At the same time, the 

government itself proclaimed a constitution upon an extremely liberal 
basis, which was to be submitted to a new elective assembly with two 
chambers, for its examination and approval. 



TUE LATEST REVOLUTIONS. 527 

§ GG9. It was not long before a similar measure followed in Austria. 
For the purpose of getting a free field, the emperor Ferdinand, who, at 
the time of the disturbances, had made many promises, had been induced 
to resign the government as early as December, whereupon his youthful 
nephew, Francis Joseph, obtained the imperial throne. He dissolved the 
constituent Diet of Kremsier, in March, 1849, and then proclaimed an 
" octroyed " * constitution, and a law respecting seignorial rights and the 
indemnification for feudal dues. Hungary was at the same time to be 
restrained by fresh exertions of power. But the Austrians encountered 
a noble resistance from this warlike and hardy equestrian and nomadic 
people, the Magyars. Excited by the fiery eloquence of Kossuth, and 
supported by Polish leaders, like Dembinski and Bem, the Hungarians 
compelled the hostile forces to retreat, captured Buda, and got possession 
of all the fortresses. Gorgey, a brave and able general, was at the head 
of the forces. The army of the insurgents was strengthened by the native 
militia (Honveds), and by foreign volunteers; Hungarian bank-notes, 
prepared by Kossuth, were paid and accepted as money. Full of proud 
April 1-1, confidence, the Diet of Debreczin declared Hungary's inde- 

1849. pendence of Austria, and established a provisional govern- 

ment under the direction of Kossuth. It was now discovered in Austria 
that Windischgratz had undertaken a task to which he was not equal ; he 
was I'ecalled, and field-marshal Ilaynau appointed in his place. As the 
Austrian court was convinced that he could not, with his own forces, sup- 
press the Hungarian insurgents, vv^ho were now approaching the frontiers 
of Austria, it called upon Eussia for assistance. The hostile armies now 
marched into Hungary from three quarters : on the north, Paskewitsch 
with his Russians ; on the west, Haynau with his Austrian troops ; and 
on the south, Jellachich with his Croats. The Hungarian army never- 
theless resisted for many months, and Gorgey, Klapka, and other brave 
generals yet gained many a splendid victory. But internal dissensions 
among the Polish and Magyar leaders, and a division that had arisen 
between Kossuth and Gorgey, paralyzed the strength of the insurgents. 
Pressed upon on all sides, Gorgey, who had been named dictator, laid 
Auo-ust 11, down his arms to the Russians at Vilagos, and thus brought 
1849. about the subjection of the country. Kossuth and many of 

the insurgent leaders found refuge in Turkey ; but who can tell how 
great was the number of those who died by the sentence of courts martial, 
or pined away in dungeons, or who served in the baggage and convey- 
ance department of the Austrian army ? Gorgey has since lived in 
Carinthia ; but the public voice of his nation accuses him of treachery to 
the cause of his country. 
§ G70. Hungary's fall, by the catastrophe of Vilagos, was the close of 

* That is, granted by the sovereign, of his own free will, and therefore owing its validity 
to his authority, instead of being formed and decreed by the people themselves or by their 
representatives. 



528 THE LATEST PEllIOD. 

the revolutionary movement that had spread over Europe after the Pai'is- 
ian revokition of February. It had reached its termination some time 
previously in Germany. 

In the midst of many contests, the Frankfurt National Assembly had 
at lengtli accomplished tlie solution of its task. It had established and 
made known the " fundamental rights of the German peojile," and had 
at last accomplished the formation of an imperial constitution. The 
Gagern party, which was striving for a German confederacy, with an 
hereditary emperor, and a legislative assembly divided into a government 
and pojjular house, had at last carried their proposal by a small majority, 
after they had won the support of many members of the Left by accept- 
ing a democratic elective law with universal right of suffrage. The new 

imperial constitution was brought to a conclusion by this 
March. ,, . „ , , „ n ^ -, ^^ -,• 

" compromise, and the ti'ansterence ot the hereditary dig- 
nity of the emperor to the king of Prussia was also carried. A solemn 
deputation, headed by the worthy president Simson, now conveyed the 
resolution of the Assembly to the king of Prussia, and made him an offer 
of the imperial crown, upon condition of his accepting the constitution in 
all its details. It was a great historical moment when, on the 3d of 
April, king Frederick William IV. met the deputation in the great hall 
of his palace in Berlin ; the results of this event were looked for with 
the utmost eagei-ness by the German nation. But the king first gave an 
ambiguous answer, and at length decisively rejected the dignity offered 
him by the people. The deputies of parliament had gone forth, as it 
were, in triumph ; they returned to Frankfurt very like scattered fugi- 
tives. When the Prussian Assembly of Estates, which, in the mean 
time, had been again summoned, voted an address to the throne, in which 
the acceptance of the imperial office and constitution was recommended 
as the wish of the nation, the second chamber was dissolved and the first 

adjourned, and then followed an alteration of the elective 

law, so that, in future, an election arranged upon the three 
tax-paying classes was to take plaee of the universal right of suftrage. 

§ 671. This rejection of the imperial constitution brought fresh revo- 
lutionary storms upon Germany. The democrats, who had hitherto been 
satisfied neither with the Fi'ankfurt parliament, with the imperial con- 
stitution, nor with the "historical sentimentality " of an hereditary em- 
peror, now took advantage of the rejection for again assuming arms. 
Violent insurrections and sanguinary street-fights took place, for the pur- 
pose of "carrying through the imperial constitution;" and even first 
of all in those states which had opposed its introduction — in Saxony, in 
the Bavarian Palatinate, and in some parts of Rhenish Prussia. Other 
states also were soon hurried away by the movement ; and when a 
mutiny broke out among the soldiers in the fortress of Rastadt, in the 
grand duchy of Baden, where the government had acknowledged the 
imperial constitution, which extended itself to Carlsruhe, and in conse- 



THE LATEST REVOLUTIONS. 529 

quence of which the grand duke was compelled to take flight, and the 
government fell into the hands of the democratic and republican party, 
the revolution had gained a broad foundation. In the Frankfurt National 
Assembly, also, the Left was constantly gaining power by the opposition 
of the governments to the work of the constitution ; especially when 
many of the conservative and constitutional party voluntarily resigned 
their seats, and others yielded obedience to the calls of their governments. 
In this melancholy position, Germany was saved from ruin by the 
bravery of the Prussian army. Prussian troops first repressed the iso- 
lated outbreaks in Eberfeld, Dusseldorf, and many other places ; Prus- 
sian troops marched to Dresden, at the call of the Saxon government, 
and rescued the city, after a barricade-fight of six days, from the hands 
of the provisional government ; lastly, Prussian troops and militia 
marched into Baden and the Bavarian Palatinate, when the grand duke 
sought assistance from Berlin, and suppressed the revolution at the mo- 
ment when it threatened to seize upon the kingdom of Wirtemberg. For 
whilst these proceedings were taking place, the Frankfurt National As- 
sembly was gradually losing its conservative members, so that, at last, the 
whole authority devolved upon the men of the Left. These determined 
to support themselves upon the revolution, and accordingly removed 
their sittings from Frankfurt to Stuttgart, to be nearer the revolutionary 
mass. The " Rump Parliament," scarcely a hundred men strong, went 
over to Wirtemberg, established an " imperial regency " of five members, 
and gave a weight to the revolutionary movements, till the minister, 

Romer, a man of firm hand and resolute temper, put a term 
June 18. , .' ,. , „ , , , , , . 

to tlieir proceedmgs, and compelled them to leave the kmg- 

dom. At the same time, the Russian soldiers, supported by the imperial 
forces, marched through the grand duchy of Baden, defeated the revolted 
troops and volunteers, under the Polish adventurer, Mierolawski, in seve- 
ral engagements, and again restored the old system. Some promoters 
of the insurrection, and among them the parliamentary member, Trutsch- 
ler, were shot by the sentence of a court-martial ; but the immediate 
originators and leaders saved themselves by flying to republican countries. 
Whilst the movement was still raging unsuppressed in the open field, the 
king of Prussia issued a proclamation to his people, which was calculated 
to awaken their confidence. He promised to satisfy the longing for Ger- 
man unity by establishing a union with a popular representation ; and, 
shortly after, appeared a new imperial constitution on the basis of the 
Frankfurt proposal, in the name of the three kingdoms, Prussia, Hanover, 
and Saxony. The approval with which this proffered gift was received 
by all the moderate party, and in favor of which a large number of the 
Frankfurt parliament, assembled in Gotha, (the after parliament), declared 
themselves, contributed materially to the pacification of the disturbed 
countries. It was not long, however, before Saxony and Hanover, sup- 

45 



530 THE LATEST PERIOD. 

ported by Austria, retired fi-om the " league of the three kings ; " upon 
which Prussia, who, since swearing to the new constitution on February 
6, 1850, has entered into the number of constitutional monarchies, 
attempted, at the Erfurt Diet, to unite the German States, which still 
adhered to the league, into a confederacy. But this plan also met with 
opposition from Austria and the other kingdoms, which required the restor- 
ation of the old Diet. 

§ G72. Owing to these divisions and parties, affairs in Schleswic- 
Holstein took a disastrous turn. The contest had begun anew in March, 
1849, and the news flew like lightning in the dark night through the 
country, that German troops had sunk the Danish ship of the line, 
" Christian VIIL," by means of strand batteries ; and that the proud 
^ frigate, " Gefion," had been compelled to surrender, after the 

loss of her rudder. The victorious Germans soon marched 
to Frederica, and laid siege to this frontier fortress. But the activity 
of the allied troops of Prussia and Germany being paralyzed by the 
peace negotiations commenced with Denmark, the enemy found an op- 
portunity to reinforce the garrison of Frederica, and afterwards to drive 
back the German army by an unexpected sally, and to make themselves 
masters of the trenches and the artillery. A fresh truce Avas now 

arranged, in consequence of which, Schleswic was placed 
July, 1849. ° , -, . ■, . , ^ 

under a neutral government, and garrisoned with Gex'man and 

Swedish troops. This truce became a peace in the following year, by 

which Schleswic- Holstein was to have resumed its former relations with 

Denmark. But the lieutenancy, that had been established there during 

the war by the German central power, would not accede to the peace, 

and determined, after the retreat of the Prussian garrison, to maintain 

its right by its own strength, and the voluntary assistance of the German 

nation. 

CoNCLUSiOX. The revolutionary storms of the years 1848 and 1849 
have now reached their termination. These two years were rich in 
hopes and experiences, in disappointments and griefs. Providence has 
once more placed the conduct and shaping of aifairs in the hands of 
princes ; may they employ this power wisely, and to the benefit of their 
people, that confidence may be once more restored to the minds of men ! 
For, true as it is, that no political or social arrangement can secure the 
true happiness of the people, unless a deeper morahty and religion, a 
more active sense of civil and domestic virtue, and a warmer feeling of 
duty, preexist in their minds ; so true is it also, that states can only 
prosper and flourish when the public faith between a prince and his peo- 
ple is firmly estabhshed, and the confidence in the honest and benevolent 
intentions of the government is exposed to no disturbance. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



« 



B. C. 

NiMKOD builds Babylon 2100 

Ninus builds Nineveh 2000 

Abraham flourished 2000 

Joseph do. . . • 1800 

Sesostris king 1500 

Moses flourished 1500 

Joshua do. 1450 

Trojan war 1184 

Samuel flourished 1150 

Heraclida3 return to Peloponnesus 1104 

Saul flourished 1095 

Moeris and Cheops 1080 

Codrus, king of Athens, dies 1068 

David flourished 1050 

Solomon do. 1000 

Rehoboam do. 975 

Jeroboam do. 971 

Sardanapalus destroys himself 888 

Lycurgus refonns the Spartan constitution 884 

Carthage founded 880 

Necho (Pharaoh) 800 

Foundation of Rome 753 

Annual Archons at Athens ........; 752 

First Messenian war 743 — 724 

Salmaneser flourishes 730 

Salmaneser subdues Phoenicia . . 730 

Ten Tribes of Israel removed by Salmaneser 722 

(Judah remains 130 years longer.) 

Sennacherib flourishes . . . .' 720 

Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem, but his army is destroyed . . .720 

Archilochus the poet born at Paros 700 

Numa Pompilius king of Rome 700 

Second Messenian war 687 — 670 

Psammeticus puts down the power of the Egyptian priests by Greek 

mercenaries 650 

TuUius Hostilius king of Rome 650 

Ancus Martius do. 625 



532 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 




remains therein 



"ives the Jews leave to 



from 533 — 
from 529 — 

from 521 — 



Draco legislator 

Nineveh destroyed ..... 

Nebuchadnezzar begins to reign over Babylon 

Nebuchadnezzar plunders the temple at Jerusalem, and removes the 

chief inhabitants 
Periander reigns in Corinth . 
Sappho the poetess born at Lesbos 
Alcaeus the poet born at Mitylene 
Tarquinius Priscus king of Rome 
Nebuchadnezzai-'s attempt on Tyre fails 
Judah taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, and 

seventy yfears: Jerusalem destroyed 
Pythagoras flourishes, born at Samos 
Astj-ages the Median king flourished 
Cyrus the Great do. 

Pisistratus tyrant of Athens 
Servius TuUius king of Rome 
Polycrates tyrant of Samos . 
Babylon taken by the Persians, and 

return home .... 
Tarquinius Superbus reigns 
Cambyses conquers Egypt, and flourishes 
Hijjplas and Hipparchus begin to rule at Athens 
Darius Ilystaspes comes to the throne, and reigns 
The Temple at Jerusalem completed in the reign of Darius 
Republic established at Athens 
Abolition of royalty in Rome 
Oppression of the plebeians by patricians for debt 
Secession to the Sacred Mount 

Destruction of Miletus 

Coriolanus banished from Rome 

Battle of Marathon 

Battle at the Pass of Thermopylse 

Battle of Salamis ...... 

Battle of PIata?a ...... 

Banishment of Themistocles for ten years 

Earthquake at Sparta 

Ezra and Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem ...... 

Cincinnatus taken from the plough to be dictator ..... 

Ambassadors sent to Grtecia Magna and Athens, to collect the laws of 

Solon and select others 

Decemvirs appointed .......... 

Herodotus born ........... 

Battle of Chferonea .......... 

The peace of Pericles 

The plebeians obtain a share in the consulate 

Military tribunals appointed 

Isocrates flourished 43G 



Victories gained 

by the Greeks 

over the Persians. 



B. C. 

624 
605 

600 

600 
600 
600 
600 
GOO 
590 

588 
584 
575 
560 
560 
550 
550 

538 
-509 
-521 
527 
485 
515 
510 
509 
495 
494 
494 
490 
490 
480 
480 
479 
471 
4G5 
4G0 
458 

452 
450 
450 
447 
445 
444 
442 

o oo 
OOO 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



533 



Thucydides bora 

Plato flourished ....... 

Death of Pericles by the plague which visited Athens 
Athenians under Demosthenes capture Pylos 
The peace of Nicias with Sparta .... 

The Athenian expedition against Syracuse . 
Destruction of the Athenian fleet at -S^sos Potamos 
Athens compelled to surrender to the Spartans 
Xenophon born .... 

Socrates dies by poison 

Antisthenes flourished . 

Veii subdued by Camillus 

Demosthenes flourished 

Peace of Antalcidas (Corinthian War) 

Death of M. Manlius (Capitolinus) 

Battle of Leuctra 

Aristipjius flourished 

Battle of Mantinea 

Destruction of Sidon 

War between the Romans and Latins 

Peace between the Romans and Samnites 

The Latins are defeated by the patriotism of Decius 

Battle of Chseronea, liberty of Greece ended 

Battle of Granicus ( Persians defeated) 

Darius Codomanus defeated at Issus 

Destruction of Tyre by Alexander 

Battles of Arbela and Gaugamela .... 

Agis II., king of Sparta, defeated at Megalopolis . 
Rupture between the Romans and Samnites 
Diogenes flourished ... . . 

Alexander the Great dies at Babylon . 
Demosthenes destroys himself .... 

Antigonus assumes the chief power after Alexander's death 
Syracuse besieged by the Carthaginians 
Antigonus is acknowledged regent of Alexander's empire 
jEschines flourished 
The Stoics flourished 
Battle of Issus. Defeat of Antigonus 
Samnites defeated by the devotion of the younger Decius 
Samnites acknowledge the supremacy of Rome 
The Mamentines seize Messina, and devastate Svracuse 
The translation of the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, called 
agint Version . . ...... 

Pyrrhus engaged in war with Rome .... 

Theocritus the poet flourished ..... 

Euclid the mathematician flourished in Alexandria 
Pyrrhus defeated by the Romans at Beneventum . 

Pyrrhus dies before Argos 

55* 



429 



385 



the Septu- 



B. C. 

430 

— 848 
429 
425 
421 
415 
405 
404 
400 
399 
396 
396 

— 332 
387 
383 
371 
370 
362 
350 
342 
340 
338 
338 
334 
333 
332 
331 
330 
325 
324 
323 
322 
321 
317 
316 
314 
312 
301 
295 
290 
289 

284 
281 
280 
280 
275 
272 



534 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



The Romans win their first naval battle at Mylas .... 

The Epicureans flourish ........ 

Aratus the Sicyon chosen commander-in-chief of the Achaean league 
The Romans make a successful sally against the Carthaginians from 

Panormus .......... 

The Carthagenians, defeated at the ^gatian islands, consent to peace 

and give up Sicily ....*.... 

Agis 111., Icing of Sparta, fioui-ished ...... 

Sicily made a Roman province ....... 

Cleomenes III., king of Sparta, flourished 

The Cisalpine Gauls make an inroad into Etruria, but are defeated 

The Roman province, Gallia Cisalpina, established ... 
Defeat of the Spartans by the combined forces of the Achteans and 

Macedonians at Sellasia ...... 

Hannibal crosses the Apennines ..... 

Defeat of the Romans at Canna^, by Hannibal 

They successfully engage twice with the Carthaginians . 

Marcellus besieges Svracuse ..... 

Archimedes the mathematician flourished in Sicily 

Syracuse, by the aid of Archimedes, holds out three years before it is 

taken and destroyed ....... 

The Capuans, deserted by Hannibal, surrender to Rome 
Hasdrubal crosses the Alps to join Hannibal .... 

Philopocmen reduces Sparta and destroys it . 

Hasdrubal is slain, and his army destroyed at the river Metaurus 

Scipio passes over into Africa ...... 

Battle of Zama. Defeat of the Carthagenians 

Philip compelled by the Romans to acknowledge the independence of 

Greece .......... 

Perseus defeated at Pydna by Paulus iEmilius 
Macedonia made a Roman ^^rovince by Metellus . 

Corinth destroyed by ]\Iummius 

The Maccabees are governors and high priests of Judea 

Numantia taken by the younger Scipio .... 

Tib. Gracchus proposes the renewal of the agrarian law 

His brother, Cains Gracchus, proposes the same after his death 

The attempts of C. Gracchus utterly defeated 

The Romans defeated by the Teutones and CInibri at Carinthia 

Metellus sent into Africa against Jugurtha, and retrieves the character 

of the Roman army 

C. Marius chosen consul by the people .... 
The Teutones are defeated at Aqua? Sextia^ by Marius 
Marhis chosen consul for the sixth time 

The Social Avar • 

Sylla sent against Mthridates (first Mithridatic Avar) 

Athens captured. Delphi plundered by Sylla 

Marius gratifies his revenge : is chosen consul for the seventh time, but 

dies a few months after 



14 



90- 



B.C. 
261 
260 
250 

242 

242 
240 
238 
230 

222 

221 
217 
216 
215 
214 
212 

212 
211 

208 
207 
207 
204 
202 

197 
168 
148 
146 
-135 
135 
133 
123 
121 
113 

109 
107 
102 
100 
■88 
88 
87 

86 



CHROXOLOGICAL TABLE. 



535 



The death of Sylla . . . - 

The second Mithridatic war ..... 

Pompey puts down the rebels under Sertorlus 

The revolt of the slaves ..... 

They are defeated by M. Crassus 

LucuUus defeats Tio-ranes at Tigranocerta 

Pompey subdues the Armenians and defeats Mithridates 

Pompey turns his arms against the pirates in the East 

The Triumvirate formed (Pompey, Caesar, Crassus) 

Cassar made governor of Gaul .... 

Cfflsar's wars in Gaul 

The last insurrection put down at Alesia, by Cajsar 

The second civil war at Home .... 

Cagsar advances upon Rome with his army . 

Pompey defeated at Pharsalus : is assassinated in Egypt 

The hopes of the republicans at Home and their army destroyed at 

Thapsus 

The remnant of Pompey's friends defeated at Munda . 
Caesar assassinated ....... 

Second Triumvirate formed (Octavius, Anthony, Lepldus) 
The republicans defeated at Philippi .... 

The victory of Octavius at Actium .... 

Egypt becomes a province of the Roman empire . 

Augustus, emperor i . 





15 


. C. 

78 


74 




-65 
73 
72 
71 
69 
G6 
67 
60 
58 


58 


— 


-50 
52 


. 49 


48 






49 






48 






46 






45 






44 






43 






42 






31 






30 


fB. 


C 


30 


)a 


D 


.14 



A. B. 

The Roman legions under Varus defeated by the Germans ... 9 

Augustus dies at Nola 14 

Tiberius emperor . . . . . . . . . 14 — 37 

Caligula do. . . . . . . . . . . 3 7 — 41 

Claudius do 41 — 54 

Nero do 54 — 68 

Galba, Otho, Vitellius, emperors 68 — 70 

Vespasian emperor . . . 70 — 79 

Jerusalem destroyed by Titus ....... 70 

Vespasian succeeded by his son Titus 79 — 81 

Domitian emperor 81 — 96 

Nerva do 96 — 98 

Trajan do 98 — 117 

Adrian do 117—138 

The Jewish nation, as a state, at an end 125 

Antoninus Pius emperor 138 — 161 

jMarcus Aurellus do 161 — 180 

Commodus do 180 — 192 

Pertinax do 193 

Septimius Severus do. . . . . . . . . .193 — 211 

Caracalla do 211—217 



536 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Ilcliogabahis emperor 

Alexander Severus do. 

Philip the Arab do. 

Dccius do. 

Gallienns do. 

Aureliaims do. 

Tacitus (descendant of the historian) do. 

Probus do. 

Carus do. 

Diocletian do. . . 

Constantine overthrows IVIaxentius at theMilvian bridge, and takes 

possession of Rome ....... 

Constantine becomes sole emperor. He favors the Christians 

Constantinus emperor ........ 

Julian restores the renown of the Roman army in the Netherland 

Julian proclaimed emperor 

Constantius' death ........ 

Julian reigns as emperor 

Jovian do. do 

„, ..,..,,( Valens rules over the East 

Ihe empire divided i ,^ , . . , , ^i inr i. 

(. Valentinian 1. rules over the West 

The Goths devastate Thessaly, Central Greece, and the Pelopon 

nesus : made to retreat by Stilicho ..... 

Alaric devastates the banks of the Po, but is obliged to retreat 

Duke Radagais and his barbarous horde defeated by Stilicho 

Rome besieged, taken, and jjlundered by Alaric . 

Adolf founds the kingdom of the West Goths in South Gaul 

Valentinian IIT. reigned ...... 

Clovis defeats the Alemanni at Zulpich .... 

^tius defeats Attila on the Catalaunian plains 

Attila retreats into Hungary 

An end is put to the Western Empire of Rome by Odoacer 

Clovis, king of the Franks, conquers the country between the 

and Loire . . 

Clovis puts to death the chiefs of the Frank tribes 

Justinian emperor of the Byzantine empire . 

Amalasanta, Theodoric's daughter, murdered 

Belisarius defends Rome against the Goths 

Totila made king of the Goths .... 

Tejas made king of the Goths, but slain in a battle with 

IVIohammed flourished 

Mohammed's flight from Mecca (Hegira), IGth July 

Abu Bekir succeeds Mohammed .... 

Omar khalif 

Persia becomes subject to the Moslems 

Alexandria taken by the Mohammedans under Amru 

Othman succeeds to the khalifate .... 

The Ommiades take the khalifate .... 



Seine 



Narscs 



A 


.. D. 


218 — 


222 


2-22- 


235 


243 — 


249 


249 — 


251 


259 — 


268 


270 — 


275 


275, 


276 


276 — 


■282 


282 — 


284 


284 — 


■305 




312 




325 


357- 


-360 




357 




360 


361- 


-363 


363 


, 364 


364- 


-378 


364- 


-395 




396 




403 




406 




410 




412 


425- 


-455 




436 




451 




452 




467 




48G 




507 


527- 


-565 




534 




537 




540 




554 


571- 


-632 




622 


032- 


-634 


634- 


-644 




634 




640 


644- 


-656 




660 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



537 



A. D. 



'75 



813 
814 



The Mohammedans carry their arms through Cyprus, Rhodes, Asia 

Minor, and attack Byzantium ...... 

Leo the Isaurian emperor of Byzantium .... 

Charles Martel defeats the Saracens between Tours and Poictiers 

Constantine Copronj-mus emperor of Byzantium 

The dynasty of the Ommiades overthrown .... 

Pepin dies, and divides his kingdom between his sons 
Charlemagne made emperor of the Franks .... 

The West Goths overthrown at Xeres de la Frontera by the 

Arabians . ........ 

Charlemagne takes the fortress of Eresburg, and compels the Sax' 

ons to make peace ........ 

Charles conquers Pa via, and unites Ujiper Italy to his empire 

Leo IV. emperor of Byzantium 

Charles the second time subdues the Saxons .... 
Thassllo, Duke of Bavaria, attempts to throw off the Frank yoke 

Irene empress of Byzantium 

Leo the Armenian emperor of Byzantium .... 

Louis the Debonnaire flourished ...... 

Egbert establishes the hierarchy in England .... 

The sons of Louis take up arms against him .... 

Louis dies near Jugelheim ....... 

The treaty of partition of Verdun ...... 

Basilius the Macedonian emperor of Byzantium . 

Alfred the Great flourished 

The kingdom in Norway founded by Harold Fairhair; and in Den 

mark, by Gorm the old ....... 

Charles the Fat flourished ...... 

Arnulf flourished . ". 

Charles the Simple flourished ..... 

Kingdom formed in Sweden by the Ynglians 
Conrad I. elected emperor of Germany 

Henry the Fowler 

He defeats the Hungarians at Merseburg 

Otho the Great flourished 

He puts an end to the depredations of the Hungarians . 

The victory of Otho over the Hungarians on the Lechfield 

Otho n. emperor of Germany 

Otho III. do. 

Hugh Capet king of the Franks 

Stephen the Pious king of Hungary 

Vladimir the Great emperor of Russia 

Canute the Great flourished 

Conrad II. emperor of Germany . 

Canute the Great of Denmark and Olaf 

tians ..... 
The IMoorish dynasty in Spain divided 
Henry in. emperor of Germany 1039- 



668- 


-675 


717- 


-741 




732 


7-il- 


-745 




752 




768 




771 



871 



771 

772 

774 

— 780 
777 
788 
800 

— 820 

— 840 
827 
836 
840 
843 
867 

— 901 



875 

876 — 887 

887 — 898 

898 — 929 

900 

919 

936 



911 
916- 



936 



973 
983- 

987- 



1017- 
1024 



of Norway become Chris- 



-973 

955 

973 

-983 

-1002 

-996 

1000 

1000 

-1035 

-1039 

1025 

1038 

-1056 



538 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Edward the Confessor ........ 

Robert Guiseard (a Norman noble) becomes master of part of 

Lower Italy ........ 

William the Conqueror overthrows Harold at Hastings 
Robert Guiscard's son, Bohemoud, increases his territory . 
Henry IV. defeats the Saxons at Unstruth 
He personally implores the withdrawal of the ban of excommuni- 
cation at Rome ........ 

Gregory deposed, and Clement IH. elected Pope 

Henry's expedition against pojie Gregory 

Pope Gregory dies at Salerno ...... 

At the Assembly at Clermont, pope Urban H. calls upon Europe 

to recover Palestine ....... 

The first Crusade ........ 

A large army under celebrated leaders arrives at Antiocb on its 

■way to Jerusalem ....... 

They come in sight of Jerusalem ..... 

Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders, July 15 

The Cid (Campeador) flourished ..... 

Henry V. emperor of Germany ..... 

Lothaire the Saxon emperor of Germany .... 

Roger II. flourished, and forms the kingdom of Naples and Sicily 
Louis VII. king of France ...... 

Conrad III. Emperor of Germany ..... 

Henry the Proud (House of Guelph) dies 

The second Crusade originated by St. Bernard 

Grisa II. king of Hungary ...... 

Frederick Barbarossa emperor of Germany 

Henry II., of Anjou, king of England .... 

Frederick undertakes a second expedition against Milan . 
Death of archbishop Thomas-a-Becket .... 

The Germans, under Frederick, defeated at Legnano 
Frederick deprives Henry the Lion of his dukedoms . 
Philip Augustus II. king of France .... 

The Crusaders, defeated at Tiberius, and many towns, together 

with Jerusalem, taken by Saladin ..... 
Richard Lion-heart ascends the English throne . 
Henry III. emperor of Germany ..... 
The news of the taking of Jerusalem gives rise to the third Cru 

sacie ........ . 

John (Lackland) king of England ..... 

Waldemar II., the Conqueror, king of Denmark 

The fourth Crusade ....... 

The Cross is preached, by order of the Pope, against Raimond 

VI. and the Albigenses ...... 

Philip of Swabia murdered ...... 

Innocent III. renews the war between the Guelphs and Ghibel 

lines 



A. D. 

1041 — 1066 

1060 
1066 
1072 
1075 

1077 
1081 
1083 
1084 



1096- 



1085 
■1099 



1097 

1099 

1099 

1099 

1106 — 1125 

11-25—1137 

1130 — 1154 

1137 — 1180 

1138 — 1152 

1142 

1149 

1150 

1152 — 1190 

1154 — 1189 

1158 

1170 

1176 

1179 

1180 — 1223 

1187 

1189, 1190 

1190 — 1197 

1192 
1199 — 1216 
1202—1241 

1203, 1204 

1205 
1208 

1210 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



539 



by 



Henry of 



arlans from 



Twenty thousand children leave their homes for the Holy Land 

Magna Chai'ta granted 

Henry HI. king of England 

Frederick H. emperor of Gei'many 

The House of Zahringen becomes extinct 

Louis YHI. king of France 

St. Louis do. 

Woldemar, king of Denmark, made prisoner 

Schwei'in ....... 

Zengis Khan chief of the Moguls, or Tartars 
The fifth Crusade undertaken by Frederick H. 
Jerusalem and a part of Palestine ceded to him 
Charter (" The Golden Bull ") obtained by the Hung; 

Andreas H. . 
Russia made tributary to the Moguls . 
Pope Gregory IX. dies 

The Christians are defeated at Gaza by the Carismians 
Henry Raspe, of Thuringia, rival emperor to Frederick U. 
Alfonso X. king of Spain ...... 

Manfred defeated at Beneventum by treachery . 
Conradine falls into the hands of Charles of Anjou 
Egypt falls into the hands of the Mamelukes 
Edward I. king of England ..... 

Ottocar, king of Bohemia, defeated at Marchfield 
Eudoh' of Hapsburg chosen emperor of Germany 
The French are slain on the Sicilian vespers 
Peter of Aragon frees Sicily of Charles of Anjou 
Dispute between Bruce and Ballol for the Scottish crown 
Philip the Fair king of Franco .... 

Adolf of Nassau emperor of Germany 

The Christians retire from Syria, when the Mamelukes take 

Antioch 

Adolf of Nassau is defeated and slain in the battle at Gollhe 

Albert of Austria emperor of Germany 

Osman makes Prusa in Bithynia his capital, and carries on war 

against Greece .... 

Pope Boniface VHI. dies . 

Pope Clement Y. removes his court from Rome to Avignon 
Edward II. on the English throne .... 
Henry VH. of Luxemburg emperor of Germany 
The persecution of the Templars by Philip the Fair . 
Molay, their Grand Master, tried upon various charges 
Henry VH. makes an expedition into Italy 
Molay condemned and burnt 
Leopold defeated by the Swiss at Morgarten 
Yladislaus IV. king of Poland 
Frederick the Fair defeated at Miihldorf . 
Alfonso XI. king of Spain .... 



un 





A. D. 




1213 




1215 


1216- 


-1272 


1218- 


-1250 




1218 


1223- 


-1226 


1226- 


-1270 




1227 




1227 




1228 




1229 




1234 




1237 




1241 




1244 




1246 


1258- 


-1284 




12G0 




1268 




1270 


1272- 


-1307 




1273 


1273- 


-1293 




1282 




1283 


1285- 


— 1314 


1291 - 


— 1298 




1291 




1298 


1298- 


— 1308 




1299 




1303 




1305 


1307- 


— 1327 


1308- 


— 1313 




1310 




1310 




1312 




1315 




1320 




1322 


1324- 


— 1340 



540 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Hungary 



in the son of John of 



passes 



Death of Leopold, the brothei' of rrederick the Fair 

Edward III. kinsj of England 

Philip VI. king of France . 

Casimir the Great kinjj of Poland 

The tax, Alcavala, introduced into Spain 

Waldemar III. king of Denmark 

Louis the Great (of Anjou) elected king of 

Johanna I. queen of Naples 

Louis of Bavaria has a rival for the empire 

Bohemia ..... 

Battle of Cressy (English victorious) 

A new republican Rome established . 

Charles IV. emperor of Germany 

John the Good king of France . 

Charles IV. ojoened the German University in Prague 

Louis of Bavaria lost his life in a bear-hunt near Munich 

Peter the Cruel of Spain ...... 

The Swiss obtain their freedom by the battle of Sempach 

The death of Cola di Rienzi, instigator of the rebellion at Rome 

Victory of the English at Poictiers .... 

Insurrection in Paris ...... 

Calais and the south-west of France ceded to the English 
Murad I., chief of the Ottomans, subdues Asia Minor, and 

into Europe ........ 

Philiji the Bold Duke of Burgundy .... 

Magnus 11. deposed from the Swedish throne 
John the Good returns to his captivity, and dies . 
Charles V. king of France ...... 

Louis the Great made kint;; of Ilungarv 

Death of the Black Prince 

Calais alone left to the English ..... 
Richard II. king of England ..... 
Wenceslaus emperor of Germany .... 

Charles VI. king of France 

Wickliff flourished 

Battle of Sempach ....... 

The Jagellons retain the crown of Poland . 

The great cities' war commenced .... 

Bajazet, chief of the Ottomans, continues the victories 

father jMurad I 

The three Scandinavian kingdoms under one sceptre 

union of Calmar ....... 

Henry IV. (Lancaster) king of England 

Zurich, Berne, and Zug join the Swiss Confederation 

The electors depose Wenceslaus from the empire of Germany 

Rupert of the Palatinate is chosen emperor 

The Turks are defeated, and Bajazet made prisoner by the 

guls, under Tamerlane, at Angora . 



bv 



IS 



of h 
the 



1327- 
1328- 
1333- 

1340- 
1342- 
1343- 



1347 
1347 



1350- 



1361 
1363 



1364- 
1370- 



1377- 
1378- 
1380 



1-386 



A. D. 

1326 
-1377 
-1347 
-1370 

1340 
-1375 
-1348 
-1382 

1346 

1346 

1347 

-1378 

-1364 

1348 

1349 

-1369 

1351 

1354 

1356 

1358 

1360 

-1389 
-1404 
1363 
1364 
-1380 
-1382 

1 O P7 r- 

-1399 

-1400 

- 1422 

1384 

1386 

-1572 

1388 



1389 — 1403 

1397 
1399 — 1413 
1399 
1400 
1410 



1400- 



Mo- 



1402 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



541 



Jobn, Sans Peur, duke of Burgundy .... 
Sigismond emperor of Germany ..... 
Henry V. king of England ...... 

Council of Constajice 

Joanna II. queen of Naples . . . 

Huss condemned 

Victory of the English under Henry V. at Agincourt . 

Alfonso V. of Spain . 

Wenceslaus died of apoplexy 

Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy .... 
Murad II. restores the Ottoman empire 
Death of Henry V. of England, and Charles VI. of France 
Henry VI. succeeds to the English throne . 

Chai'les VU. to that of France 

Cosmo de Medici (Florence) ..... 

Joan of Arc delivers Orleans 

She is captured by the English and burned 

Council of Basle ........ 

The Taborites defeated at Prague .... 

Calais remains the only English possession in France . 
Charles's entry into Paris ...... 

Albert H. of Austria, emperor ..... 

Frederick IH. do. 

John Guttenburg of Mayence invents printing . 

Hungarians and Poles defeated by the Turks at Warna 

Casimir IV. on the Polish throne .... 

Christian I. ( Oldenburgh) of Denmark 

Nicholas V., Pope, founder of the Vatican library 

The House of Visconti extinct in Milan 

Mohammed H. on tA; Ottoman throne : he takes Constantinople 

and puts an end to the Byzantine empire 
Sebastian Brandt, poet of Strasburg, flourished . 
Matthias Corvinus (son of Huniades) made king 
Palgrave Frederick's (the Victorious) victory 

Louis XI. on the French throne 

Edward IV. (York) king of England .... 

Ivan the Great throws off the Mogul yoke . 

Alexander Castriota (Scanderbeg) maintains his independence 

against the Turks 

Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy .... 
Steno Sture, king of Sweden (separated from Denmark) 
Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent (Florence) . 
Copernicus, the astronomer, flourished 

Isabella queen of Spain 

Ariosto the poet flourished 

Michael Angelo flourished ...... 

Charles of Burgundy defeated at Granson by the Swiss 

46 



1404- 
1410- 
1413- 
1414- 
1414- 



1416- 

1419- 
1421- 

1422 

1422- 

1428- 



1431 



1437 
1440- 



1447- 
1448- 
1450 



1451 

1458- 

1458 

1461 
1461 
1462- 



1467- 

1471- 

1472 

1473 

1474- 

1474- 

1474- 



A. T>. 

-1419 

-1437 

- 1422 

-1418 

-1435 

1415 

1415 

-1456 

1419 

-1467 

-1451 

1422 

-1461 

-1461 

-1464 

1429 

1431 

-1449 

1433 

1435 

1436 

-1439 

-1493 

1440 

1444 

-1492 

-1481 

-1460 

1450 

-1481 

-1521 

-1490 

1461 

-1483 
-1483 
-1505 

1467 
- 1477 
-1504 
-1492 
-1543 
-1504 
-1533 
-1563 

1476 



542 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Maximilian of Austria foiled the attempt of Louis XI. upon the 

dukedom of Burgundy 
Ferdinand king of Spain 



A. D. 



Raphael the painter flourished 

Richard III. of England 

Charles VIII. of France 

Battle of Bosworth 

Henry VII. (House of Tudor) king of England . 

Bartholomew Diaz reaches the Cape of Good Hope 

Discovery of America by Columbus . 

Louis XII. of France 

Maximilian I. emperor of Germany 
Hans Sachs, the shoemaker poet, flourished 
The land-peace established at the Diet of Worms 
Cabot explores the coast of North America 

The return of the Medici 

Maximilian admits the independence of the Swiss 
Louis XII. of France conquers JVIilan . 

Charles V. of Burgundy 

Ferdinand of Aragon gets possession of Naples . 

Death of Columbus at Valladolid 

The League of Cambray, for dividing the Venetian territory 

Henry VHI. of England ..... 

Julius II. the warhkc pope .... 

Albuquerque founds a Portuguese colony in India 

Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean 

The Portuguese establish colonies and factories in Ceylon and on 

the Coromandel coast ...... 

*' Battle of the Giants " of Marignano. Swiss defeated 
Luther denies the supremacy of the pope . 

Leonardo da Vinci flourished 

Steno Sture slain ; Sweden reunited to Denmark 
Soliman the Magnificent on the Ottoman throne 

Conquest of Mexico by Cortez 

Luther's doctrines denounced as heretical, and his writings sen^ 

tenced to be burned 
Luther burns the bull of excommunication 
Slaughter at Stockholm 

The Knights of St. John, expelled from Rhodes, receive Malta 
Luther establishes peace at Wittemberg 

Adrian VI. pope 

Gustavus made king of Sweden by the Diet of Strengnas 
Camoens the Portuguese poet ..... 
The defeat of the French at Pa via by the Germans . 
Hungary divided on the death of Louis H. at Mohacs 
Macchiavelli, the statesman, flourished 
Rome taken by the Spaniards and Germans 
Gustavus introduced Christianity into bis dominions . 



1479 — 


-1516 


1483 — 


-1520 


1483 — 


-1485 


1483 — 


-1498 




1485 


1485- 


-1509 




1486 




1492 


1493- 


-1515 


1493 — 


-1495 


1494 — 


-1576 




1495 




1497 




1498 




1499 




1500 




1500 




1504 




1506 




1508 


1509- 


-1547 




1510 




1510 




1514 




1515 




1515 




1519 




1519 




1520 


1520- 


-1526 




1521 


June 16 


1520 


Dec. 10 


1520 




1520 




1522 


Iklarch 


1522 


1522 


1523 




1523 


1524 - 


-15G9 




1525 




1526 




1527 


May 6 


1527 




1527 



CimONOLOaiCAL TABLE. 



543 



Saxo 



Andrea Dona frees Genoa of the French . 

Half of Hungary falls into the power of the Ottomans 

Pizarro and Ahnagro conquer Peru .... 

Diet of Spire 

The Ladies' peace of Cambray 

Charles V. restores the INIedici, expelled a second time 
The men of Zurich defeated and Zwingle slain . 
League between the Landgrave of Hesse and Elector of 

at Smalcald 

Ivan Vasilyevitsch H. the first Czar .... 
The Bible completed in German by Luther 
Christian HI. introduces Christianity into Denmark 
Contest between Pizarro and Almagro. Discovery of Chili 
Charles V. captures Tunis .... 

The ten years' truce of Nice .... 
The Eeformation established at Leipsic and Dresden 
Charles V. sends a second expedition to Africa . 
Francis I. commences a fourth war against Charles V 
The order of the Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola 
Paul in. pope of Rome ..... 

Corregio flourished 

The peace of Crespy 

The crown of Sweden given to the male line of Vasa 

Council of Trent opened 

Death of Luther 

Fiesco attempts the overthrow of the house of Doria 
Henry II. on the French throne 

Edward VI. of England 

Cervantes flourished ...... 

Gasca sent to settle the affairs of Peru 

Albert Durer flourished ..... 

Maurice of Saxony rises against Charles V. 
Lope de Vega, Spanish poet .... 

The victory of Maurice over Albert of Brandenburg 
Mary Tudor queen of England .... 

Lucas Cranach flourished 

Paul IV. pope 

Philip H. of Spain 

Ferdinand I. emperor of Germany 
Elizabeth queen of England .... 
Peace of Chateau Cambresis .... 
The Heidelberg Catechism drawn up 

Pius IV. pope 

Francis H. on the French throne 

Death of Melancthon ...... 

Erich XIV. king of Sweden .... 

Charles IX. king of France .... 

Hans Holbein flourished 



ny 



A. I>. 

1528 
1529 
1529 — 1535 
1529 
1529 
1530 
1531 

1531 

1533 — 1588 

1534 

1534 — 1539 

1535 — 1538 

1535 
1538 
1539 
1541 

1542 — 1544 

1542 

1543 — 1549 

1543 

1544 

1544 

Dec. 13, 1545 

Feb. 18, 1546 

1547 

1547 — 1559 

1547 — 1553 

1547 — 1616 

1548 

1548 

March, 1552 

1552 — 1635 

1553 

1553—1558 

1553 

1555 — 1559 

1556 — 1598 
1556— 15G4 

1558 — 1603 

1559 
1559 

1559 — 1565 

1559 — 1560 

1560 

1560 — 1568 
1560 — 1574 

1563 



544 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Shakspeare, the English dramatist 

Maximilian II. emperor of Germany 

400 nobles petition against the Inquisition in the Netherlands 
Mary Stuart marries Darnley ...... 

Galileo flourished 

Death of Soliman at Sigeth (Hungary) .... 

Mary's favourite, Rizzio, murdered 

Duke Alba of Spain sent to subdue the Netherlands . 

Death of Darnley, Mary's husband 

John III. king of Sweden 

Egmont and others put to death in the Netherlands . 
The Huguenots defeated at St. Denis by the Catholics 

Mary Stuart's flight into England 

Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland fail to set Mary at 

Hberty 

Henry of Beam takes the lead of the Huguenots 

Kepler flourished 

Gregory XIH. pope (arranged the present calendar) . 

The Northern States of the Netherlands recognize WilUam of 

Orange as Stadtholder ....... 

Louis of Zuniga succeeds Alba in the Netherlands 

Henry HI. king of France . . 

Don Juan succeeds Zuniga 

The Alliance of Ghent . 

Titian flourished ........ 

Rudolf H. emperor of Germany 

King Sebastian of Spain defeated by the Moors . 
Alexander Farnese succeeds Don Juan .... 

The Union of Utrecht 

The domination of Spain over Portugal lasts sixty years 
William of Orange assassinated ...... 

Sixtus V. rose from a shepherd boy to be pope . 
Execution of Mary Stuart in England .... 

The Invincible Armada sent against England 

Henry of Guise creates a rebellion in Paris 

Henry IV. besieges Paris ....... 

John Fischart, poet of Mayence, flourished .... 

Henry IV. becomes a Catholic 

Tasso the poet flourished ....... 

Henry allows hberty of conscience to the Calvinists by the Edict 

of Nantes 

First permanent French settlement in America . 

First settlement of Virginia at Jamestown .... 

Champlain discovers Lake Champlain .... 

Charles IX. king of Sweden ...... 

Calderon, Spanish poet ....... 

James I. (Stuart) king of England ..... 

The Protestant Union in Germany concluded 



A. D. 

1564 — 1616 

1564 — 1576 
Nov. 1565 

1565 

1565 — 1631 

1566 
1566 

1567 — 1573 
Feb. 10, 1567 

1568 — 1592 

1568 
1568 
15G8 

1569 

1570 

1572 — 1631 

1572 — 1585 



1572 

— 1576 

— 1589 

— 1578 
1576 
1576 

— 1612 
1578 

— 1592 
1579 

— 1640 
1581 

— 1590 
1587 
1588 
1588 
1590 
1591 
1593 
1595 



1598 

1607 

1607 

1609 

1600 — 1611 

1600 — 1687 

1603 — 1625 

1608, 1609 



1573 
1574 
1576 



1576 
1578 
1580 
1585- 

May 1 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



545 



A truce between the Netlierlanders and Spaniards ; the indepen- 
dence of the former acknowledged 

Henry IV. murdered by Ravaillac 

Louis XIII. of France 

]\Iatthias on the imperial throne . 

The Dutch erect some trading posts at the mouth of the Hudson 
river 

Imperial House of Romanoff (Russia) . 

Death of Matthias ...... 

Frederick V. of the Palatinate made king of Bohemia 

First settlement of New England, at Plymouth . 

Ernest of Mansfield defeats Tilly, the imperialist general, at 
Wiesloch 

Richelieu changes the government in France 

Charles I. of England . . • . • . 

Frederick of Bohemia defeated by Ferdinand H. 

Ernest of Mansfield and Christian of Brunswick die . 

Christian IV. defeated by Tilly at Lutter . 

The validity of the Petition of Right acknowledged . 

Settlement of Salem, in Massachusetts 

Duke of Buckingham assassinated .... 

Christian recovers his lands by the peace of Lubeck . 

The Edict of Restitution published by Ferdinand U. . 

Pomerania surrendered to Gustavus Adolphus . 

Settlement of Boston, in Massachusetts 

Diet of Leipsic ........ 

Magdeburg taken by Tilly 

The imperial army defeated at Leipsic and Breitenfield 

The victory of the Swedes at Lutzen .... 

Alliance of Heilbron (Swedes and Germans) 

Settlement of Maryland ...... 

Wallenstein, the general of Ferdinand H., murdered • 

The peace of Prague between the German princes and the 
emperor 



Richelieu encourages the Swedes in their undertakings in Ger- 



many 

Settlement of Hartford, in Connecticut .• . . . 
Saxony and Thurlngia conquered by the Swedes 
War with the Pequod Indians In Connecticut 

Ferdinand III. emperor of Germany 

Settlement of New Haven, in Connecticut .... 
Episcopal form of service repelled from Scotland 
Rhode Island colonized by Roger Williams 

Death of Bernhard of Weimar 

Charles I. (Stuart) calls a parliament after eleven years' delay 
Formation of the New England Confederacy 
Frederick William elector of Brandenbursj 
Strailbrd and Laud convicted of high treason 

4G* 



A. D. 

1609 

1610 

1610 — 1643 

1612—1619 

1613 

1613 — 1676 

May 20, 1619 

Nov. 1619 

Dec. 22, 1620 



April, 

1625 — 
Nov. 7, 

Aug. 27, 



Feb. 
May 16, 

Sept. 7, 
Nov. 16, 



Feb. 25, 



1622 
1624 
1649 
1625 
1626 
1626 
1628 
1628 
1629 
1629 
1629 
1630 
1630 
1631 
1631 
1631 
1632 
1633 
1633 
1634 

1634 



1635 
1636 
1636 
1637 

1637 — 1657 
1G37 
1637 
1638 
1639 
1640 
1643 

1G40 — 1688 
1641 



546 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Civil war between Charles and the parliament 
The Swedes defeat the imperial army at Leipsic 
Louis XIV. on the French throne .... 

Christina queen of Sweden 

Battle of Marston-I\[oor 

Contests between the Presbyterians and Independents 

Charles defeated at Naseby 

Alexis reduces the Cossacks to subjection . 
Charles delivered prisoner to the jiarliamcnt 

Peace of Westphalia 

Cromwell marches upon London to give the Independents the 

superiority in Parliament 

Escape of Charles I. ...... . 

Eighty-one Presbyterians expelled from Parliament . 

War of the Fronde 

Execution of Charles I. ..... . 

Prince of Wales recalled from Holland, and acknowledged as 

Charles II. by the Presbyterians .... 

Cromwell's victory over the Scots at Dunbar 
The royal army overthrown at Worcester . 
Na\ igation act passed in England .... 

Long parliament dissolved by Cromwell 
Cromwell dissolves by force his second parliament 
Mazarin's return to Paris ...... 

Christina abdicates in favor of Charles Gustavus 

Charles X. of Sweden 

Battle of Warsaw ....... 

Emperor Leopold takes up arms to secure the crown of Spain for 

his son ......... 

Cromwell's death ....... 

Rump parliament restored and dissolved by the army 
Charles 11. returns as king ...... 

Oliva, king of the Poles, makes peace with Sweden . 
Charles XI. of Sweden ...... 

Death of Mazarin ....... 

The English wrest New York from the Dutch . 
Settlement of New Jersey ...... 

Spanish war ........ 

Louis XIV. compelled to surrender the greater part of his con 

quests in the Spanish Netherlands .... 
The Austrian government executes the'leaders of the insurrec 

tion in Hungary ....... 

Louis XIV. carries his arms against Holland 
Manpu'tte and Joliet discover the INIississippi river 
Moliere died ........ 

Spain and Germany join in the war against France . 

The Swedes defeated by Frederick '\\'illiam 

King Philip's war in New England .... 



A. D. 

1642 — 1646 

1642 

1643 — 1715 

1G44 

July 3, 1644 

Feb. 1645 

June 14, 1645 

1645 — 1676 

1646 

1647 

June, 1647 

Nov. 1648 

Dec. 1648 

1648 — 1653 

Jan. 30, 1649 

1650 

1650 

1651 

1651 

April, 1653 

Dec. 1653 

1653 

1654 

1654 — 1660 

July, 1656 

1657 — 1705 

Sept. 3, 1658 

April, 1659 

May 29, 1660 

1660 

1660 — 1697 

March 9, 1661 

1664 

1665 

1667, 1668 

1668 

1671 
1672—1679 
1673 
1673 
1674 
1675 
1675 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



547 



Bacon's rebellion in Virginia 



Feodor czar ... .... 

The peace of Nimeguen 

Habeas Corpus act 

Strasburg taken from the Germans by Louis XIV. 
Pennsylvania granted to William Penn 
La Salle sails down the Mississippi 
The Turks defeated before the walls of Vienna . 
Peter Corneille, French dramatic poet 
Peace concluded with France at Regensburg 
James II. ascended the English throne 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. 
James II. fled from England .... 
Sir Edmund Andros deposed at Boston, Massachusetts 
Frederick I. king of Prussia .... 
The French take and burn Spire 

Montesquieu flourished 

War of Orleans 

Peter the Great czar 

Expeditions fitted out by Massachusetts against Acadie 

Quebec ....... 

New Charter of Massachusetts .... 

French defeated in the battle of La Ilogue 
Witches hanged at Salem ..... 

Lafontaine died ....... 

Voltaire flourished . . . . • 

Death of king John Sobieski of Poland 
Frederick Augustus chosen king of Poland 

Charles XII. of Sweden 

Peace of Ryswick 

James II. and the Catholic Irish defeated at the Boy 

Peace of Carlowitz 

Racine died 

Settlement of Louisiana ..... 
Death of Charles II. of Spain .... 
Charles of Sweden besieges Copenhagen . 
Frederick I. solemnly crowned at Kdnigsburg . 

Anne queen of England 

General Catinat defeated, and Savoy and Piedmont 

of Austria by prince Eugene .... 
Charles of Sweden defeats the Prussians near Narva 

Spanish war of succession 

Surrender of Warsaw to Charles XII. 

"The rise of the Tyrolese 

Charles XII. deposes Augustus king of Poland . 
Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg 

Bossuet died 

Battle of Hochstadt (Blenheim) .... 



rne 



made 



and 



allies 



1676 



Sept. 



Sept. 

Aug. 15, 

Oct. 
Dec. 

1688 — 
June, 

1689 — 
1689 — 
1689 — 



A. D. 

1676 

1682 
1679 
1679 
1681 
1681 
1682 
1683 
1684 
1684 
1685 
1685 
1688 
1689 
1713 
1689 
1755 
1697 
1725 



1690 
1691 
1692 
1692 
1694 

1694 — 1778 
1696 
1697 

1697 — 1718 
1697 
July, 1699 
1699 
1699 
1699 
1700 
1700 
1700 

1701—1714 

1701 
1701 
1702 — 1714 
1702 
1703 
1703 
1703 
1704 
Aug. 13, 1704 



548 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Stanislaus Lcczinski elected king of Poland 

Capture of Gibraltar by the English 

Joseph I. emperor ........ 

Defeat of the French at Ramilies by JNIarlborougb 
The French defeated at Tnrin by prince Eugene 

Peace of Altranstadt 

Scottish representatives admitted into parliament 

Victory of Almanza 

Battle of Ondenai'de won by ISIarlboroiigh and prince Eugene 
Charles XIT. makes an expedition against Moscow 
Charles's army suffers greatly from the severe winter . 
The Swedish army defeated at Pultowa .... 
Battle of Malplaquet. Defeat of the French 
Death of Joseph I. ....... . 

Charles XII. escapes into Turkey 

Boileau died ......... 

Abortive expedition against Canada, under Walker and Hill 
Charles VI. emperor of Germany ..... 

The army of Peter the Great almost made prisoners on the Pruth 

by the Turks ....... 

Charles XII. arrives before the gates of Stralsund 
Frederick 11. born ...... 

Rousseau flourished 

Peace of Utrecht 

Frederick William I. king of Prussia . 

Peace of Rastadt, between the Germans and French 

The Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples, and Sicily, given to 

Austria. The electors of Bavaria and Cologne restored to 

their lands and titles 
Death of Louis XIV. 
George I. of England 
Bishop Fen^lon died . 
Louis XV. of France 
Philip of Orleans regent . 
James (III.) Stuart attempts to regain the throne 
Stralsund surrendered to the Prussians 
Insurrection in Thorn against the Jesuits 
Wlnkelmann flourished 
Charles XII. killed before Friederichstadt 
Execution of Baron de Gorz 

Sweden surrenders nearly all her foreign possessions . 
Alexis condemned to death by Peter the Great, his father 
Klopstock the poet 
Kant the philosopher . 
Catherine I. empress of Russia 
Georsje II. of England 
Peter II. emperor of Russia 
Lessins flourished 



A. D. 

1704 

1704 

1705 — 1711 

May 23, 1706 

Sept. 7, 1706 

Sei^t. 24, 170G 

1707 

Apr. 25, 1707 

July 11, 1708 

1708 

1708 

July 8, 1709 

Sept. 11, 1709 

1710 

1710 

1711 

1711 

1711—1740 

1711 

Oct. 1711 

Jan. 24, 1712 

1712— 1772 

May 11, 1713 

1713 — 1740 

Mar. 7, 1714 



Sept. 
Sept. 1, 

1714 — 

1715 — 
1715 — 
1715 — 

Dec. 

1717 — 
Dec. 11, 

1719, 

1724 — 

1724 — 

1725 — 
1727 — 
1727 — 
1729 — 



1714 
1714 
1727 
1715 
1774 
1723 
1717 
1715 
1717 
1768 
1718 
1719 
1720 
1722 
1803 
1804 
1727 
1760 
1730 
1781 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



549 



Anna empi'ess of Russia .... 
Geoi-gia founded by general Oglethorpe 
The Polish war of succession 
Frederick Augustus III. king of Poland 

AVieland lived 

Frederick II. marries into the House of Brunswick 
Francis Stephen exchanges Lorraine for Tuscany 
Charles YI. concludes the peace of Belgrade 
Frederick II. ascends the Prussian throne . 
He makes an expedition into Silesia . 
First Silesian war ...... 

Battle of Molwitz. Victory of the Prussians 
Elizabeth empress of Russia . . . , . 

Charles Albert crowned king of Bavaria at Prague 
He is elected emperor of Germany, and reigns . 
His capital, Munich, taken by the enemy . 

Peace of Breslaw 

]\Iaria Theresa crowned at Prague 
French defeated at the battle of Dettingen 

Second Silesian war 

Herder ........ 

Death of Charles YH. at Munich 

Treaty of Fiissen ...... 

Victory of Frederick H. at Hohenfriedberg 

Battle of Kesseldorf. Frederick marches to Dresden 

ceded to him in the peace of Dresden 
Francis I. emperor of Germany .... 
Victories of the French at Fontenoy and Laffeld 
Charles Edward the Pretender lands in Scotland 
Capture of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, by troops from 

setts 

Ferdinand VL king of Spain . 
Defeat of the Pretender at Cullodcn . 
Peace of Aix la Chapellc with the French 
Goethe flourished . . . . • 

Joseph Emmanuel king of Portugal ... 
Alliance between Llaria Theresa and the French king 

kins of Prussia ...... 

Braddock's defeat by the French and Indians 

Earthquake in Lisbon 

The French driven into exile from Acadie . 

Frederick of Prussia falls suddenly on Saxony 

He marches against Bohemia 

He is victorious at the battle of Prague 

He is defeated at Collin .... 

The French defeat his allies at Hastenbeck . 

He gains a splendid victory at Rosbach 

He defeats Daun at the battle of Beuthen . 



agamst 



Silesia 



Massachu 



the 



1730 



1733 — 
1733 — 



Sept. 18, 

Oct. 

1740 — 
April 10, 

1741 — 
Oct. 

1741 — 
Jan. 24, 
July 28, 

June 27, 
1744, 

1744 — 
Jan. 20, 

Api-il, 
June 4, 

Dec. 25, 

1745 — 
1745 — 



1746 — 
April 27, 



1749 — 

1750 — 

Sept. 
Nov. 



May 6, 

June 18, 

July, 

Nov. 5, 

Dec. 



A. ». 

1740 
1732 
1733 
1763 
1813 
1734 
1737 
1739 
1740 
1740 
1742 
1741 
1702 
1741 
1745 
1742 
1742 
1743 
1743 
1745 
1803 
1745 
1745 
1745 

1745 
1765 
1747 
1745 

1745 
1759 

1746 
1748 
1832 
1777 

1751 
1755 
1755 
1755 
1756 
1757 
1757 
1757 
1757 
1757 
1757 



550 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Sept, 



Capture of Fort William Henry by Montcalm • 
Adolf Frederick of Sweden . .... 
Unsuccessful attack on Ticonderoga, by Abercrombie 
Frederick of Prussia receives support from England 
His victory at Zorndorf ..... 

He is worsted at Hochkirk 

He is defeated by the Austrians at Kunersdorf . 
Ferdinand defeats the French at IMinden . 

Schiller flourished 

The Jesuits expelled from Portugal . 
Battle of Quebec and death of Wolfe 

Charles HI. of Spain 

Ferdinand defeats Laudon and regains Silesia 

George HI. king of England .... 

Ferdinand obtains the dearly-bought victory of Torgau 

Elizabeth, empress of Russia, dies 

Peter HI, emperor of Russia, murdered 

Catherine H. of Russia ..... 

Frederick concludes the peace of Hubertsburg . 

The English obtain Canada by the peace of Paris 

Death of Augustus HI. of Poland 

War with the Indians, usually called Pontiac's war 

Poniatowski chosen king of Poland 

Passage of the Stamp Act for taxing America . 

Joseph n. ascends the imperial throne of Germany 

Stamp Act Congress at New York 

Repeal of the Stamp Act 

Christian VII. of Denmark .... 

The General Confederation of Radovi formed 

The Confederation of Bar, in Poland, defeated . 

The war between Russia and Turkey 

Affray with the soldiers at Boston 

Gustavus III. comes to the throne of Sweden 

Moscow visited by pestilence, and civil war in Poland 

Louis XV. orders his opponents in the parliament to 

Neckar's first ministry ..... 

The treaty of partition of Poland between Russia, Austria, and 

Prussia ........ 

The abolition of the Order of Jesuits . 

Destruction of the Tea in Boston harbor 

The English increase their forces, and shut up the harbor of 

Boston ........ 

A Congress of the American Colonies meet at Philadelphia 
Rebellion of Pugatscheff, a Don Cossack 

Louis XV. of France dies 

Battle of Lexington, in Massachusetts 

Battle of Bunker's Hill 

Juliana, stepmother of Christian, directs the Danish government 



be arrested 



A. D. 

1757 

1757 — 1771 

1758 

1758 

Aug. 25, 1758 

Oct. 14, 1758 

Aug. 12, 1759 

April 13, 1759 

1759 — 1805 

1759 

1759 

1759 — 1788 

Aug. 15, 1760 

17G0 — 1820 

Nov. 3, 1760 

Jan. 5, 1762 

July 9, 1762 

1762 — 1796 

Feb. 21, 1763 

1763 

1763 

1764 

1764 — 1795 

1765 

1765—1790 

October, 1765 

March, 1766 

1766 — 1808 

July 23, 1767 

Feb. 1768 

1768 — 1774 

March 5, 1770 

1771—1791 

1771 

1771 

1771_1781 



Au 



2. O, 



1772 
1773 
1773 



1774 
1774 
1774 
1774 
April 19, 1775 
June 17,1775 
1775 



Sept. i; 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



551 



Montgomery killed in an attack on Quebec 

PugatschcfF is betrayed and suffers death . 

The British troops evacuate Boston .... 

Turgot and Malasherbes (ministers) reorganize France 

The Declaration of Independence adopted by the American Con 

gress 

Battle of Long Island and defeat of the Americans 

Battle of Trenton 

Battle of Bennington ...... 

Battle of Brandy wine 

Battle of Germantown ..... 

Burgoyne's army capitulates at Saratoga 

The Bavarian war of succession 

The French form an alliance with America 

Battle of jNIonmouth 

Spain forms an alhance with America 

The French and Americans repulsed at Savannah 

Gen. Lincoln capitulates at Charleston 

Gates defeated by Cornwallis at Camden . 

England declares war against Holland 

Joseph n. of Austria 

Battle of Guilford Court House 

Neckar obliged to resign his office 

CornwaUis surrenders to the French American army 

The attempt of the Spaniards to take Gibraltar foiled 

The independence of America acknowledged by the English 

the peace of Versailles 

Nicolai of Berlin 

Crimea conquered by Potemkin 

A democratic insurrection in Holland 

Joseph n. offers the Austrian Netherlands in exchange for Bavaria 

Shays's rebellion in Massachusetts 

Frederick WilHam H. restores order in Holland 

The Netherlanders expel the Austrians 

Second Turkish war 

Calonne calls an Assembly of Notables 

The boldest speakers against taxation in the parliament of Paris 

are arrested and banished to Troyes 
Gustavus in. wages war with Russia 
Brienne compelled to resign his ministry 
Neckar's second ministry . . . . 

The Estates summoned 

Oczakow stormed by Potemkin . 

The Federal Constitution of the United States of America soes 

into effect 

George Washington, President of the United States 
The Third Estate declares itself a National Assembly 
The Hall of Assembly closed .... 



Dec. 31, 
March 1 7, 



July 4, 

Aug. 27, 

Dec. 25, 

Aug. IG, 

Sept. 11, 

Oct. 4, 

Oct. 15, 

1778 — 

Feb. 6, 

June 28, 

June 26, 

Oct. 9, 

May 12, 

Aug. 16, 

Nov. 

1780 — 

March 15, 

Oct. 19, 
Sept. 
in 

Nov. 30, 
1783 — 



1787 — 
Feb. 



Aug. 



Aug 

1788, 

Dec. 

Dec. 17, 

March 4, 

1789 — 

June 17, 

June 20, 



A. D. 
1775 
1775 
1776 
1776 

1776 
1776 
1776 

1777 
1777 
1777 
1777 
1779 
1778 
1778 
1779 
1779 
1780 
1780 
1780 
1790 
1781 
1781 
1782 
1782 

1782 
1811 
1783 
1784 
1785 
1786 
1787 
1787 
1792 
1787 

1787 
1788 
1788 
1789 
1788 
1788 

1789 
1797 
1789 
1789 



552 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Mirabcau opposes the dissolution of the Assembly 

Storming of the Bastille ..... 

The equality of citizens declared 

Gustavus meditates war with France . 

The Netherlands declare their independence 

Death of Joseph II . 

Leopold II. of Austria ..... 

The fortress of Ismail stormed by SuwarofF . 
Feast of the Federation at Paris 
Prince Potemkin, favorite of Catherine II., died 

The death of Mirabeau 

The Poles reorganize their government 

Louis attempts to escape from Paris . 

The Russian party in Poland form the Confederation of 



Gustavus is murdered by Ankerstrom 

France declares war against Austria and Prussia 

A Russian army advances into Poland 

Kosciuzko defeated by the Russians . 

The assault on the Hotel de Ville 

The Prussians defeated at Valmy 

RepubUcanism established in France . 

Custines obtains possession of JMayence 

Battle of Jemappes ...... 

New partition of Poland between Russia and Prussia 

Condemnation of Louis 

Ilis execution ....... 

Dumourier defeated by the Austrians at Neerwinden 
Chalier, the demagogue, executed at Lyons 
The Dutch and Hanoverians defeated at Handschooten 
Trial and execution of Marie Antoinette 
The French, under Hoche, defeated at Kaiserslautern 
Insurrection of the Poles under Kosciuzko . 
Execution of Danton and Desmoulins 
Execution of Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI. 
Jourdain compels the evacuation of Belgium 
The Jacobins denounced in the Convention 
Execution of Robespierre, St. Just, Couthon, Henriot, and other 
Jacobins, ....... 

Defeat of Kosciuzko ...... 

The French compel the Prussians to retreat 

Poland divided between Austria, Prussia, and Russia 

The Convention surrounded by the Mob . . . Mar. 

Peace of Basle ....... 

The insurrection of the 1st Pralrial 

The Austrians get possession of Heidelberg 

The Royalist party suppressed .... 

Bonaparte defeats BeauUeu at Milesimo and Montenotte 



Tar 



A. D. 

June 27, 1789 

July 14, 1789 

Aug. 4, 1789 

1790 

1790 

Feb. 20, 1790 

1790— 1792 

Dec. 22, 1790 

July 14, 1790 

1791 

Apr. 2, 1791 

May 3, 1791 

June 21, 1791 

Jan. 1792 
Mar. 29, 1792 
April, 1792 
May, 1792 
July 17, 1792 
Aug. 10, 1792 
Sept. 20, 1792 
Sept. 21, 1792 
Oct. 21, 1792 
Nov. 6, 1792 
1793 
Jan. 17, 1793 
Jan. 21, 1793 
Mar. 18, 1793 
July 16, 1793 
Sept. 8, 1793 
Oct. 1793 
Nov. 1793 
Apr. 1794 
Apr. 5, 1794 
May 10, 1794 
June 26, 1794 
July 27, 1794 

July 28, 1794 

Oct. 10, 1794 

Oct. 1794 

Jan. 1795 

31, Ap. 1, 1795 

Apr. 5, 1 795 

May 20, 1795 

Sept. 24,1795 

Oct. 5, 1795 

1796 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



553 



Bonaparte's vlctoiy at the Bridge of LodI . 

Wurmser defeated at Castiglione 

Jourdain defeated at Wurzburg .... 

Retreat of Moreau througli the Black Forest 
Peace concluded between the Germans and French 
French victories at Areola, Rivoli, La Favorita . 
Pope Pius VI. concludes the peace of Tolentino . 
Austria concludes the peace of Leoben with Bonaparte 
The royalist deputies arrested at the Tuileries . 
The peace of Campo-Formio .... 

Bonaparte opens the congress at Rastadt . 

Pius VI. deprived of his temporal power 

Mamelukes defeated by Bonaparte near the Pyramids 

Insurrection at Cairo against the French . 

Rome retaken from the Neapolitans . 

The Par then opeian republic established at Naples 

Bonaparte marches against Syria . . 

He besieges Jean d'Acre, but is repulsed . 

French defeated at Stockach by Archduke Charles 

The French ambassadors assaulted on leaving Rastadt 

The Russians conquer the Cisalpine republic 

Cardinal Ruffo storms Naples .... 

Bonaparte defeats the Turks at Aboukir 

Pope Pius VI. dies in Paris .... 

French defeated at the battle of Novi . 
Russians defeated by the French at Zurich 
The Duke of York's retreat from the Netherlands 
Bonaparte returns to France .... 

He forms a new constitution in France, and takes the 
of aiFairs Into his own hands .... 

Victory of Kleber at Heliopolis .... 

Death of Suwaroff ...... 

Napoleon's passage of the Great St. Bernard 

The Austrians defeated at Montebello 

The rout of the Austrians at Marengo 

March of Macdonald and Moncey over the Grisons 

Defeat of the Austrians at Hohenlinden 

Attempt to kill Bonaparte by the infernal machine 

Peace of Luneville ...... 

Battle of Canopus in Egypt. Death of Abercrombie 
The French clergy made subject to the Pope 
Alexander, son of Paul, declared emperor of Russia 
The Concordat concluded with Rome 
The French conveyed by the English from Egypt 
Peace of Amiens ...... 

Bonaparte made consul for life .... 

The Imperial Diet (Germany) .... 

The cantons in Switzerland are made independent 

47 



A. D. 

May 10, 1796 
Aug. 5, 1796 
Sept. 3, 1796 
Sept. 19, 179G 
Oct. 24, 1796 
Jan., Feb. 1797 
Feb. 19, 1797 
Apr. 18, 1797 
Sept. 4, 1797 
Oct. 17, 1797 
Dec. 1797 
Feb. 1798 
July 21,1798 
Oct. 21, 1798 
Nov. 1798 
Jan. 1799 
Feb. 1799 
Mar. 20, 1799 
Mar. 25, 1799 
Apr. 28, 1799 
June, 1799 
June 13, 1799 
July 25, 1799 
Aug. 1799 
Aug. 5, 1799 
Sept. 25, 26, 1799 
Oct. 1799 



direction 



Oct. 9, 1799 



Nov. 9, 1799 

Mar. 20, 1800 

May, 1800 

]\Iay, 1800 

June 9, 1800 

June 14, 1800 

July, 1800 

Dec. 3, 1800 

Dec. 24, 1800 

Feb. 9, 1801 

Mar. 21, 1801 

April 8, 1801 

May 24, 1801 

July 15, 1801 

Sept. 1801 

Mar. 27, 1802 

Aug. 2, 1802 

Feb. 25, 1803 

Feb. 1803 



554 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



A. D. 

War declared by the English against the French . . . May 18, 1803 

Bonaparte's troops advance upon Hanover .... May, 1803 

Execution of the Duke d'Enghien Mar. 21, 1804 

Napoleon proclaimed emperor May 18, 1804 

Republicanism in Italy changed into monai'chy .... March, 1805 
The Austrian general. Mack, shut up in Ulm .... Oct. 14, 1805 

The capitulation of Ulm Oct. 20, 1805 

Battle of Trafalgar. Death of Nelson Oct. 21, 1805 

Napoleon defeats the Russians at Dirnstein .... Nov. 1805 

Murat enters Vienna .■;....... Nov. 13, 1805 

Victory of Napoleon at Austerlitz Dec. 2, 1805 

The peace of Presburg Dec. 26, 1805 

The dynasty of the Bourbons ceases in Naples . . . . Dec. 27, 1805 

Death of Pitt 1806 

Palm, bookseller of Nuremberg, suffers death . . . . Aug. 26, 1806 
The Prussians defeated at Saalfield by the French . . . Oct. 10, 1806 

The double battle of Jena and Auerstadt Oct. 14, 1806 

Hohenlohe and 17,000 men surrender at Prenzlow , . . Oct. 28, 1806 
Napoleon makes peace with the Elector of Saxony . . . Dec. 1806 
Battle of Eylau between the French and Russians . . . Feb. 8, 1807 
Dantzic surrendered to marshal Lefebvre ..... May 24, 1807 

Napoleon abolishes the tribunate 1807 

Peace of Tilsit concluded June 7-9,1807 

Bombardment of Copenhagen. Capture of the Danish fleet by 

the English Sept. 2-5, 1807 

The flight of the Lisbon court to the Brazils. Junot takes pos- 
session of Lisbon Nov. 1807 

Godoy delivers Spain to Napoleon Feb. 1, 1808 

Charles IV. abdicates the throne of Spain March, 1808 

1,200 French killed in the insurrection at Madi-id . . . May 2, 1808 
Napoleon names his brother Joseph king of Spain . . . June 6, 1808 
The Spaniards driven back at Rio Seco by Bessi^res . . July 14, 1808 
Dupont's capitulation at Baylen, in Andalusia .... July 22, 1808 

Capitulation of CIntra Aug. 30, 1808 

Meeting at Erfurt of Alexander and Napoleon . . . . Sept. 27, 1808 
Napoleon enters Madrid, and restores Joseph .... Dec. 4, 1808 

Saragossa taken by the French Feb. 20, 1809 

Gustavus IV. deprived of the crown of Sweden .... ISIar. 13, 1809 
Austria sends an army into Bavaria and Italy .... 1800 

It is defeated at Abensberg and Eckmuhl .... April 20- 22, 1809 
The two days' combat at Aspern and Eslingen . . . May 21, 22, 1809 
Napoleon destroys the temporal power of the pope . . . May 27, 1809 
Major Von Schill falls during the assault of Stralsund . . May 31, 1809 

Pope Pius VII. taken from Rome by violence .... June 16, 1809 

The Austrians defeated at Wagram July 5, 6, 1809 

Napoleon unites the States of the Church to the French territory July 6, 1809 
The Austrians conclude the truce of Znaym . . . . July 12, 1809 
The French defeated by WclUngton at Talavera . . July 26, 1809 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



655 



July 28, 
Oct. 12, 
Dec. 15, 
Feb. 18, 



Death of Sir Jolm Moore at Corunna 

The attempted assassination of Napoleon by Staps 

Napoleon divorced from Josephine 

Hofer, the Tyrolese, shot at Mantua . 

Napoleon annexes Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and the duchy 

of Oldenburg to the French empire 
Bernadotte declared successor to the Swedish throne 
Birth of a son (the king of Rome) to Napoleon . 
The French cross the Niemen, and enter Wilna 
Wellington defeats Marmont at Salamanca 
The battle of Smolensk fought .... 
The French gain the battle of the Borodino 
The French army enters Moscow 
The battle of Malo-JarosloAvetz .... 
The passage of the Beresina .... 
Prussia forms an alliance with Russia 
The French victorious at Liitzen and Bautzen . 
The English gain the battle of Vittoria 
Austria negotiates at the congress of Prague 
Austria declares war against France . 
The Prusso-Swedish army victorious in the battles of Gros-Beeren 

and Dennewitz -^"g- 23 and Sept. 6, 

Napoleon wins the battle of Dresden Aug. 26, 27, 



July 9, 
. Aug. 21, 
. Mar. 20, 
. July 16, 
. July 22, 
. Aug. 1 7, 
. Sept. 7, 
. Sept. 14, 
. Oct. 24, 
. Nov. 26 - 29, 
. Feb. 3, 
May 2 and 20, 
. June 21, 
. July 12, 
. Aug. 12, 



Macdonald defeated on the Katzbach, in Silesia . 
Vandamme and his whole army surrounded and made 

at Culm . ....•>• 
The allied armies unite in the plain of Leipsic . 
The French defeated at the battle of Leipsic 
Victory gained by the French at Hanau . ■ . 

Blucher crosses the Rhine 

Norway given to Sweden by the peace of Kiel 

The armies of Blucher and Schwarzenberg meet in Champagne, 

and gain the battle of Brienne .... 
Napoleon obtains the victory of Montereau . 
Blucher gains fresh advantages over the French at Craonne and 

Laon 

Nef^otiations between the allies and Napoleon broken off, and 

his dethronement resolved on . 
The allies enter Paris . . • • 
Napoleon resolves to abdicate in favor of his son . 
He signs an unconditional act of abdication . 
Soult defeated by Wellington at Toulouse . 
Napoleon lands at Elba ..... 

Ferdinand restores unlimited monarchy in Spain 
First peace of Paris concluded .... 
Louis XVHL placed on the French throne 
Napoleon lands on the south coast of France 
Grenoble opens her gates to him 



. Aug. 26, 
prisoners 

. Aug. 29, 30, 

. Oct. 8, 

. Oct. 16, 18, 

. Oct. 30, 31, 

Jan. 1, 



A. D 

1809 
1809 
1809 
1810 

1810 
1810 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1812 
1813 
1813 
1813 
1813 
1813 

1813 
1813 
1813 



1813 
1813 
1813 
1813 
1814 
Jan. 14, 1814 



Feb. 1, 
Feb. 18, 



1814 
1814 



Mar. 7 and 9, 1814 



Mar. 20, 21, 
Mar. 31, 
. April 4, 
. April 7, 
. April 10, 
. May 4, 
. May 10, 
. May 30, 
. May 30, 
. Mar. 1, 
, Mar. 20, 



1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1814 
1815 
1815 



556 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

Murat defeated in tlie battle of Tolentino Maj' 23, 1815 

The French compel the Prussians to retreat at Ligny . . . June 10, 1815 

Battle of Waterloo June 18, 1815 

Napoleon resigns in favor of Napoleon 11. .... . June 22, 1815 

Paris surrendered to Wellington and Blucher .... July 8, 1815 

Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Frederick William 

III. of Prussia form the Holy Alliance Sept. 25, 1815 

Napoleon arrives at St. Helena Oct. 18, 1815 

Second peace of Paris arranged Nov. 20, 1815 

Democratic display at the festival of the Wartburg . . . Oct. 18,1817 
James Munroe, President of the United States .... 1817 — 1825 

George Sand assassinates Kotzebue Mar. 23, 1819 

Sand is executed Sept. 1819 

Kiots at Manchester suppressed by the military . . . . 1819 

Insurrection of the soldiers at Cadiz Jan. 1, 1820 

George IV. king of England 1820 — 1830 

Assassination of the due de Berri by Louvel .... Feb. 13, 1820 
Dismission of the moderate ministry of Decaze .... March, 1820 
Ferdinand of Spain obUged to summon the Cortes and swear to 

the constitution Mar. 7, 1820 

Pepe and Carascosa, with the insurgents, enter Naples . . July 13, 1820 

George IV. attempts to divorce his wife 1820 

The Holy Alliance suppresses the liberal movement . . . Jan. 1821 

Llissouri admitted into the Union by a compromise on the subject 

of slavery 1821 

John VI. returns to Lisbon, and swears to a new constitution for 

Portugal and Brazil Jan. 26, 1821 

A revolution in Piedmont. Victor Emmanuel abdicates . . March, 1821 
Greece rises in arms ......... March, 1821 

The Piedmontese liberals resist at Novara ..... April, 1821 

Napoleon Bonaparte died May 5, 1821 

The sacred band of the Greeks destroyed by the Turks in 

Wallachia , June 19, 1821 

Queen Caroline (of England) died ...... Aug. 7, 1821 

Lord Castlereagh committed suicide -A-ug. 12, 1822 

The Holy Alliance requires the Spanish Cortes to alter the con- 
stitution Oct. 1822 

A French army, under the duke of Angouleme, crosses the 

Pyrenees Feb. 1823 

They appear before Cadiz Aug. 5, 1823 

Ferdinand VU. replaced on the Spanish throne .... Nov. 7, 1823 

Byron dies in Greece April 19, 1824 

Don Miguel is banished from Portugal April, 1824 

Gen. Lafayette visits the United States 1824 

Louis XVin. dies Sept. 16, 1824 

John Quincy Adams, President of the United States . . . 1825 — 1829 
Count of Artois becomes king of France, as Charles X. . . May 29, 1825 
Emperor Alexander dies Dec 1, 1825 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



657 



John VI. of Portugal dies 

Missolonghi taken 

The destruction of the Janissaries at Constantinople 
Canning, prime minister of England, dies . 

Battle of Navarino 

Don IVIiguel is proclaimed king of Portugal 

Irish Catholics admitted to parliament 

Gen. Andrew Jackson, President of the United States 

Capo d'Istria appointed President of the Greek States 

The French Chambers dissolved . 

The Russians surmount the Balkan 

William IV. on the English throne 

Frederick of Spain aboUshes the Salic law 

Algiers taken by the French 

The Revolution of July broke out 

Louis Philippe appointed regent . 

Louis Philippe king of the French 

A conspiracy against Russia breaks out in Poland 

Isabella, daughter of Frederick of Spain, born 

Antwerp bombarded by the Dutch general, Chasse 

A free constitution given to Hesse Cassel . 

A Russian army of 200,000 men marches into Poland 

A disturbance excited in Paris on the day of the due de Berri'; 

death, by the raising of the white flag .... 

The Reform Bill passed 

Insurrections in Paris and Lyons suppressed ... 1 
Battle of Ostrolenka ........ 

Belgium separated from Holland . . . • . 

Thirty friends of the Russians murdered at Warsaw. Czar- 

toryski flies to the camp of Dembinski 
Warsaw and Praga surrender 
Don Pedro compels Don Miguel to renounce the Portuguese 

crown, and leave the country ...... 

The French seize on Ancona, and keep it several years 
Otho elected king of Greece ...... 

The Hambacher Festival, in Rhenish Bavaria 

The duchess of Berri unsuccessful in raising Vendee . 

South Carolina attempts to nullity a law of the United States 

Holland desists from the contest with Belgium . 

The German liberals attempt to disperse the diet 

Frederick VH. of Spain dies 

The Basques, led by Zumalacarreguy and Cabrera, rise in favor 

of Don Carlos .... 

Twenty-one persons lose their lives by the attempt of Fieschi to 

murder Louis Philippe 

Slave Emancipation Bill passed .... 

Charles X. dies at Gorz 

Martin Van Buren, President of the United States 
47* 



A. D. 

Mar. 10, 1826 

April 22, 1826 

June, 1826 

Aug. 8, 1827 

Oct. 20, 1827 

June, 1828 

1829 

1829 — 1837 
July, 1829 

Aug. 8, 1829 
Sept. 14, 1829 

1830 — 1837 
Mar. 29, 1830 

July 5, 1830 

July 26, 1830 

July 29, 1830 

1830 — 1847 

1830 

Oct. 1830 

Nov. 1830 

1831 

Jan. 25, 1831 

Feb. 15, 1831 

Mar. 1, 1831 

831,1832, 1834 

May 26, 1831 

June, 1831 

Aug. 1831 
Sept. 6, 7, 1831 

1832 — 1834 

Feb. 23, 1832 

May, 1832 

May 27, 1832 

Nov. 1832 

Nov. 19, 1832 

Dec. 1832 

April 3, 1833 

Sept. 29, 1833 

Oct. 1833 



July 28, 1835 

Aug. 1835 

1836 

1837 — 1841 



June 20, 1837 

July, 1837 

Aug. 31, 1839 

1840 



558 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

Ernest. Augustus becomes king of Hanover .... 1837 

Victoria ascends the British throne . 

The old constitution of Hanover restored . 

The Carlist leader, Maroto, lays down his arms 

Frederick William IV. king of Prussia 

Queen Victoria marries prince Albert of Saxe Coburg, . . Feb. 10, 1840 

Gen. W. H. Harrison, President of the United States. His 

death April 4, 1841 

Espartero effects the removal of Christina from Spain . . May, 1841 

The English corn lavrs relaxed 1842 

Duke of Orleans killed by an accident July 13, 1842 

Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Mr. Webster and Lord 

Ashburton, settles the north-eastern boundary of the United 

States » . Aug. 1842 

The Greeks drive away the Bavarians ..... 1843 
Switzerland disturbed by a struggle between Jesuitism and Radi- 
calism . . . March, 1843 

Espartero being overthrown, Christina and her daughter carry 

on the Spanish government ....... July, 1843 

Annexation of Texas to the United States March, 1845 

James K. Polk, President of the United States .... 184.7 — 1849 
War between Mexico and the United States .... April, 1846 
Gen. Taylor defeats the Mexican army at Palo Alto and Rcsaca 

de la Palma May 8, 9, 1846 

The king of Denmark destroys the hope of the Schleswic- 

Holsteiners of being united to Germany ..... July 8, 1846 
Oregon Treaty with Great Bi'itain settles the northwestern 

boundary of the United States ...... July, 1846 

Capture of Monterey and defeat of the Mexicans by Gen. 

Taylor Sept. 21, 23, 1846 

Battle of El Paso; Mexicans defeated by Col. Doniphan . Dee. 25, 1846 

Frederick William IV. makes some concessions to the Prussians 1847 

Battle of Buena Vista ; Santa Anna with 22,000 men defeated by 

Gen. Taylor with 5,000 

Battle of Sacramento ; Col. Doniphan defeats the Mexicans 
Vera Cruz surrendered to Gen. Scott ..... 

Mexicans defeated at Cerro Gordo by Gen. Scott 
The Swiss radicals dissolve the Sonderbund .... 
Battles of Contreras and Churubusco ; Mexican army defeated 

with tji'eat slaughter ........ 

Bloody battle of Mohno del Key ; Mexicans defeated by Gen. 

Worth Sept. 8, 184 7 

Chapultepec stormed and the city of Mexico taken by assault 

by the American army under Gen. Scott . . . Sept 12, 14, 1847 

A confederate army subdues Freiburg and Lucerne . . . Nov. 4, 1847 
The other cantons obliged to submit ." . . . . . Dec. 1, 1847 

Death of the duchess Maria Louisa Dec. 18, 1847 

Sicily revolts from the king of Naples Jan. 1848 



Feb. 23,' 


1847 


Feb. 28, 


1847 


Mar. 29, 


1847 


April 18 


1847 


July, 


1847 


Aug. 20, 


1847 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 559 

A. D. 

Louis Philippe dismisses Gulzot, and joromiscs reform . . Feb. 22, 23, 1848 
Louis Philippe abdicates in favor of the Count of Paris. A republi- 
can government formed Feb. 24, 1848 

An insurrection in Vienna causes Metternich to resign . . Mar. 13, 1848 
The Prussian government consents to freedom of the press, and 

other reforms Mar. 17, 1848 

Disturbances in Berlin ........ Mar. 18, 1848 

King Louis resigns the crown of Bavaria ..... Mar. 20, 1848 

After an undecided street-fight of fourteen hours, the king of 

Prussia grants an unconditional amnesty . . . Mar. 21, 1848 

The Austrian garrisons in Milan and Venice expelled by popular 

insurrections March, 1848 

The emperor of Austria and his court retire to Innspruck . . May, 1848 
Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, making peace between Mexico 

and the United States May 30, 1848 

The emperor returns on the invitation of the Austrian Diet . Jul}', 1848 
Archduke John of Austria is elected regent of Germany, and 

enters Frankfurt July 11, 1848 

Radetzky gains a victory at Custozza ..... July 25, 1848 

The truce of Malmo concluded by Prussia ..... Ang. 2G, 1848 
The German rej^ublicans attempt in vain to disperse the National 

Assembly, and bring about a revolution and republic . . Sept. 18, 1848 
The Magyar mob, enraged at Jellachich taking the field against 

Hungary, murder Lamberg at Buda-Pesth .... Oct. 3, 1848 

Latour murdered at Vienna . Oct. G, 1848 

Kossi, the pope's minister, murdered ...... Nov. 15, 1848 

Francis Joseph becomes emperor of Austria .... Dec. 2, 1848 

A liberal constitution granted in Prussia ...... Dec. 5, 1848 

The pope flies to Gaeta. A republic is established in Rome . Feb. 1849 
Charles Albert takes up arms for the Italians, but is soon de- 
feated by Eadetzky March 20 -24, 1849 

The dignity of emperor of Germany offered to the king of 

Prussia March, 1849 

A Danish line-of-batde ship and frigate destroyed by the Ger- 
mans at Eckernford ........ April 5, 1849 

The Diet declares Hungary to be independent of Austria, and 

appoints a provisional government April 14, 1849 

The dissolution of the second, and prorogation of the first, cham- 
ber of the German Assembly April 27, 1849 

Prince Windischgratz sent to reduce Vienna .... June, 1849 
The minister, Romer, puts a stop to the revolutionists, and com- 
pels them to leave Germany June 18, 1849 

A truce completed between Schleswic and Denmark . . . July, 1849 
The French, after a fierce resistance, enter Rome . . . July 3, 1849 
Gorgey surrenders to the Russians at Villages .... Aug. 11, 1849 
Venice retaken by the Austrians -A.ug. 25, 1849 

THE END. 



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